Probable
by Fayrandothneil
Summary: Sam is a divorced single mom of two boys. What happens when she rents a room from the Fenton household? And what is with Danny's cat? Just a funny romance I thought up.
1. Chapter 1

"Mommy?"

Sam looked into the face of her questioning son, then quickly back at the road as someone passed the beat-up compact.

"What is it Alex?" she asked messing with the air-conditioning to distract herself.

"Why do we have to move again?" the seven-year-old implored. "Why did we have to leave home?"

What was she going to tell him? That Daddy kicked them out? That Daddy had wanted a different life with his first wife; the one he had been married to for six years while at the same time he was married to her for eight? That Daddy was a double cheater and Mommy never wanted to see him again?

"We just had to sweety," Sam said after a pause. "We weren't welcomed there anymore."

"But where are we going to go?" Alex asked with worry in his voice.

Sam had been asking herself the same question. She had nowhere to go anymore. Her husband had kicked her out, but she liked to think that she had left him, and her parents disowned her after she had married the creep. They wouldn't answer the phone, return e-mails, or reply by snail mail if they were from her. They didn't even know that they had grandsons. Sam had never been on a good plane with her parents, but she missed them badly.

She decided the best thing to do was to start over. She would use her maiden name while the divorce was getting settled by the lawyers and just start over. She would enroll the boys in the school, she would get a job somewhere and hopefully they could be happy. It was going to be hard, but she was confident that she could make it on her own.

Sam glanced in the rearview mirror and saw her eldest son, Conner, playing with his gaming system. Conner was ten and had a dark outlook on things right now. You know, the phase where he thinks everyone is out to get him and he thinks that he is all that. That he can control the world in a single heartbeat.

This was a tough time for him because he understood more than Alex did. He knew what his father did and it troubled Sam that he did know. No child should have to see their parents act like that, to be this hurt by the separation. Sam was trying her best to explain to Conner that things just weren't as simple as he thought they were, but he chose to ignore and defy her every chance he got. Sam really didn't blame him, but she did wish that he would straighten up his act in front of people. She was tired of fighting with him, but Conner wouldn't give up so easily.

Sam returned her attention to the road and glanced at the billboard that advertised their new home.

Amity Park, a nice place to live.

"What's so great about it?" Conner asked, having looked up from his game to peer outside.

"This place is said to be haunted by a great number of ghosts," Sam explained.

"Haunted?" Alex asked worriedly, pulling his security blanket over his head to hide himself.

"Don't worry Alex, nothing is going to happen to us," Sam said smiling warmly at him.

Alex was a worry wart and had a great number of allergies; any one of them could set off his asthma. He worried about germs, always carrying some disinfectant with him in his pocket and his blanket. It was a tattered old brown thing that went through the washer every morning before he went to school. The other kids would make fun of him because he still carried it around, but Sam didn't have the heart to take it from him. Now that he wouldn't see his father around, whom he looked up to like a god, he needed some sense of security, and his father had given him the darn thing after all. Sam knew she couldn't take from him now, not in a million years.

"Yeah scaredy-baby," Conner said flicking Alex in the head with his finger.

Conner, on the other hand, she could a number of things too.

"Conner, don't make me pull over and take your game from you," Sam warned him.

He leaned back in the seat and stared out of the window at the passing sights. The game must have low batteries, Sam guessed.

"Whoa!" Conner gasped suddenly sitting straight up and looking back at where they had come from.

Sam looked in her side mirror to see what had startled him. There was something flying at them, but it wasn't a plane. Could it be a bird, a mechanical toy of some sort?

"What is it?" Alex said twisting in his seat to look back in the rear window. "What is it!?" he said this time with more alarm.

Whatever it was, it came up at them fast, but it didn't disturb the car at all. It flew by, being nothing but a blur in their eyes. Then something else came up at them, but this one at a much slower pace. It came to slowly match the pace of their car, which was going about 70 on the highway.

Sam gasped when she saw it and couldn't help but stare. Conner had a smile plastered on his face and Alex hid his head in his blanket.

It was a man, but he obviously wasn't human. He had white hair, whiter then the clouds above them in the sky. His eyes a neon green, glowing like nightlights. His hazmat suit was black with white gloves, boots, and a belt where odd gadgets of all sorts hung from it. His body seemed to be a bit transparent, as if looking through a really thick black fog and his skin was so pale, he looked like a corpse. However, he was flying like Superman would, arms out and legs back like a straight line.

He wasn't looking at the car, his vision fixed on something in the distance. The other thing that had flown by earlier, but it had been going too fast for him to follow. The determined look on his face told Sam that he wasn't going to give up so easily, and he looked kind of cute, in a dead way.

While these things were going through her head, she wasn't watching the road and didn't see the semi that had pulled out in front of them. When Sam finally did return her attention to the road, they were two yards from crashing into the giant truck. Sam screamed, the boys screamed, and she was pretty sure the truck driver was screaming too, or cursing.

Things seemed to slow down for Sam as the distance between them closed. She braced herself for the impact, and the pain that was sure to follow.

It never came. Her body felt as light as air and a small chill had crept over her skin at the feeling of something touching her.

"Press the brake," said a commanding voice that had an odd echo to it.

Sam did as it said and slowly put her foot on the lever. The car came to a stop and something put the car in park and put on the emergency break.

Sam opened her eyes to see that the truck was now a few yards behind them, everything unharmed and not one piece of metal lying in the road. The truck driver was running up to them, but Sam barely noticed as she looked up and saw the odd man that had been flying beside their car a moment before.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice the one that had told her to put on the break.

"F-fine," Sam stammered out. "Wait! How did you get in the car?"

He was sort of floating between her and Alex who was staring at the man with bug eyes. Conner was doing the same of course.

"I phased through," the man said simply, as if it was common knowledge.

To prove it, he literally flew through the roof and out of the car. Sam, her interest perked to an extreme level, fumbled with her seat belt and the door handle before she got out of the car.

"Stay here," she told the boys before closing it.

"You're a life saver Phantom," the trucker was saying to the odd man.

"Just doing my job," the man, Phantom said humbly. "In fact if I wasn't idling beside the highway, this wouldn't have happened."

He was blaming himself for this mess? Sam found that odd in a human being now a day, though he wasn't human, he was, and to her surprise she was saying it, a ghost.

"You might want to show them the way into town," Phantom was saying to the trucker. "I have to see a man about a dog."

Then he flew off like a rocket. No 'you're welcome' or anything else. Sam found it a little rude, but he did seem to be in a hurry.

"Who was that?" Sam asked the trucker as he came up to her.

"That's Phantom," he said with a wink. "He's been the local guardian of this here town for years. Like a local superhero I guess. He really doesn't like much attention though like other heroes get, stays mostly in the shadows unless he needs to talk."

"He was sort of brusque."

"Ghosts haunt this city like flies in a manure pile. They're everywhere and he tries to be everywhere at the same time."

"Sounds like a big job for one person," Sam murmured to herself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, so can you show us the way into town? We've been on the road since yesterday afternoon."

"What happened to you man?" Tucker asked Danny as the half-breed phased through the ceiling of the apartment that they both shared.

"An ectopuss, an ectohawk, and then I had to stop a car crash that I caused," Danny grumbled while taking a seat on the couch and wincing as his arm brushed the armrest. "A very cranky and stinging ectopuss, it feels like I was stung by a hundred bees."

"Jazz isn't going to be happy about that."

"That's because we've learned not to tell her, right Tuck?" Danny's eyes glared at his best friend and Tucker backed off with his hands up in defense.

"Alright, but seriously dude, you have to tell your sister to back off. You're twenty-six for crying out loud, you don't need to be babysat."

"How many other people with ghost powers do you know?" Danny asked. "Jazz will do anything to make sure I'm safe, short of putting me in a straight jacket and throwing me in a safe room. Do you know how many times she told me to think about my career?"

"You're a part time substitute teacher at the school while Lancer gets over his back problems, and a pilot for hire, which hasn't been happening lately by the way," Tucker said rolling his eyes. "Not much of a career dude. Unless you count the freelance ghost hunting."

"It's not exactly freelance any more. I do it because I feel it's the right thing to do. Plus I'm an employ of Clockwork, I'm called to do things he needs me to do."

"Like that time he needed you to straighten up the spat in Africa between the ghost prairie dogs and the ghost dung beetles?" Tucker said without much enthusiasm. "Oh yeah, that was so important."

"I do what needs to be done, you don't know how time works Tucker. One little thing can send it off balance. Didn't we learn that during the CAT's catastrophe?"

Tucker shuddered at the memory.

"I couldn't go into the Nasty Burger for weeks after that one," the African-American said. "So okay, you may be right about that one. But what about the time he had you press his capes?"

"He just needed a favor done."

"And he calls you up?"

"Well I am the only friend that he has. Everyone else is scared of him Tuck. They think that he might put a curse on them or something, as if he's this all powerful god."

"Isn't he?"

"Far from it Tuck, he's as mortal as you or I. I need some alcohol to put on this."

Danny turned human and Tucker saw the real damage. It looked like Danny's skin had been stripped off by a whip or something. Danny didn't want any help bandaging it, knowing how nauseated Tucker was by blood, but he couldn't do it by himself. He surprised Tucker by duplicating himself and having the other Danny wrap it for him.

"Jazz is going to spy that from a mile away," Tucker said after he saw the faulting bandaging job.

"I'll live," Danny said gruffly. "I have to go and pick some things up, you coming?"

"I have a presentation to give in a week, I'm focusing on that bro."

Danny shrugged and walked out the door, grabbing his jacket on the way.

It would have been easier to fly, but Danny liked to be human for a while. After all, Fenton had to be seen some of the time, or else they would probably make the connection with Phantom.

Danny looked to his right as he heard something big rumble by. It was the Ghost Assault Vehicle, or Fenton RV for short. The driver's side window rolled down as Danny came to a stop and expected to see his dad, but he saw his mom instead.

"Hey Mom," he said crossing the street to talk with her. "What's up?"

"I just saw an ectopuss go by. That wouldn't happen to be your handy work would it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"No, not really. The thing's too darn fast to chase right now. I had to deal with a few other things and I was beat by the time it showed up," Danny frowned. "I can do whatever you like with the sap."

"Good, I have him in the back right now," Maddie said grinning.

Danny gaped at her.

"How did you—? Never mind, I don't need to know. How's Dad?"

"Oh his back is still bothering him, but he's fine otherwise."

"Eating you out of house and home isn't he?"

"He's so bored Danny, I don't know what to do with him," Maddie sighed, banging her head on the steering wheel.

"I'll arrange some ghostly chiropractics to straighten him out," Danny offered, cracking his knuckles at the thought of forceful persuasion.

"You know that your father doesn't like a ghost to touch him, except for you sweety. I'll just have to get him to see a doctor about his back."

"If that doesn't work out, the ghosts can always work while he's asleep."

"I'll call you in a week to see if I need the help. Oh, and we have a take on the room."

It was Danny's turn to look skeptical.

"You're pulling my leg," he said close to laughing.

"No, we have a taker. A Samantha Manson and her two boys. She's just moving to town after a nasty break up, didn't give to many details. She needed a place to stay and I brought the price down a little for her. She'll need a guide Danny, to show her around town."

"Stop trying to hook me up Mom."

It was true, his mother wanted him to settle down, but the ghosts and him being a half breed wouldn't be good on a relationship for a wife or kids who might turn out to be ghosts themselves. Plus this woman was just leaving her husband with two kids, she wasn't going to be on the market any time soon.

"I was being very serious," but something her in eyes told Danny that was a lie. "I have to go home now, your father has called me three times in the last fifteen minutes. Bye!"

Danny waved as his mother drove off and got back on the sidewalk.

Manson? Why did that name sound so familiar? Danny shrugged his shoulders and continued to walk.

He avoided his sister's pent apartment which was three blocks from his own. He really needed to move to the other side of town, or the other side of the state. Jazz had become very over-protective after one incident that had left Danny with a slight limp. He told everyone that he had a bad fall when he had been camping with his parents senior year of high school, but the truth was that he had broken that leg pretty badly when he had battled Plasmius, which was during the camping trip. It hadn't healed perfectly, thus why he had a limp, but it wasn't that noticeable if people didn't stare too much.

He made it to the pharmacy, picked up some things that he was running low on, and then he made it over to the zoo. It was closed on Sundays, but that didn't stop the half ghost from phasing through the entry doors and making it over to the wolves' pen. One of the wolves looked him in the eye and seemed to smile at his company.

"How are you doing buddy?" Danny asked, rubbing the wolf on the head and scratching its chin at the same time.

The wolf licked his face, which made the rest of the dogs jealous as they awaited their turn to be petted. Ever since Danny had that accident in his parents' lab, he had somehow become more connected with nature. It must have been the ghost in him since most spirits were connected to some sort of nature. Animals were more sensitive around ghosts, knowing if they were evil or not. Even something as timid as a rabbit would jump up into Danny's arms for comfort. He could even understand them to a certain extent, but he wasn't sure how. It wasn't like he could hear what they were saying to each other and he could talk the same way back, it was just something he knew.

After visiting the wolves, Danny went back to the apartment, finding Tucker gone and a message on his answering machine.

"Alright kid, I'll bring the price down just a tad for you, but that's it. You can come in tomorrow and sign the papers to move in."

Danny recognized the voice. It was one of the men he had frequently flown. Danny flew private jets for the famous and glamorous. He was the best pilot in the area, probably in the nation, since Danny could fly without a plane and knew what was coming when to make the ride as smooth as possible. He also practiced aerial maneuvers, in case he was needed in the army again, but those weren't really required when going from one place to another at a leisurely pace.

He closed his eyes and thanked whoever was up there running things that he could get out of his friend's apartment and get into a house of his own. One that was on the far side of the city so his sister wouldn't annoy him as badly. He hadn't told anyone except for Tucker and he had sworn his buddy to secrecy. He would tell his mom that night over the phone, he knew that she could keep a secret. He would tell Jazz after he had moved in so she wouldn't help him with the move and probably try and find something closer to him.

He felt something brush up against his legs and looked down; Dawn, a Siamese cat, was rubbing her back against his legs and purring loudly. She had been a gift from Clockwork about two years before and Tucker wasn't really happy about a kitten moving in with his electronics, but Danny liked the companionship and Tucker let the cat stay. Now that they were moving out, Tucker would be ecstatic that no more cat hairs would be on his floor and sofa.

He picked Dawn up and took her to the kitchen where he fed her some extra shrimp from the night before when had Tucker had gone out on a date with Valerie, the crazy ghost huntress.

True, Danny had dated her a few times in high school, but that was before her obsession seemed to take her over. She was living two lives, like Danny, but no one knew about it and she had become two totally different people. Sometimes she didn't even remember when she hunted a ghost. She had become dangerous after that, but if Phantom didn't help Valerie, then Fenton would. He and Valerie still stayed in touch and were mutual friends, but he never knew how to let on that he knew about her ghost hunting. He decided to wait for her to open up about it, unless it became more serious and Valerie was put in a mental ward. Tucker had only recently started to date her, and Danny was uncomfortable about it, but he trusted Tucker not to let anything slip, unless he had too much to drink.

Danny winced at the thought. Tucker wasn't known to hold his liquor, often spewing it on the floor when he got home and having a hangover in the morning after two shots. He knew Tucker was just trying to best Danny at something. Because Danny was more fit, and use to drinking sometimes to delay the pain of his injuries, he could drink more and still be clear minded, but he rarely drank. He was a hero after all and didn't want to be under the influence when there was an emergency. Tucker was probably feeling inferior, but he had more brains then Danny did, that was something Tucker should be proud of, and he was, it just didn't seem like enough. Danny decided that he would have to talk to Tucker about it.

"What have you gotten into?" Danny asked his cat as he petted her back while she ate.

He noticed that she had gained some weight again, in almost a month that was probably another pound.

"You probably found a way to get into the fridge again," Danny shrugged and frowned at the same time. "I should take you to the vet to make sure you didn't digest anything dangerous."

His only reply was a muffled yowl as Dawn licked her bowl clean of the shrimp.

Sam pulled up to the house and stared at the giant glowing sign and satellite attached to the top of the roof.

"I bet they're aliens!" Conner said looking up at the massive metal disc.

"Aliens!?" Alex cried pulling his blanket over his head, Peanuts gallery style. "I don't want to go in there Mommy!"

"Don't be such a baby," Conner chided him with a sneer.

"Conner," Sam warned him. "Alex sweet-heart, these people are ghost hunters. They have a very sterile environment because of the experiments that they do. I picked this place because it was the best I could get for you."

Alex put his blanket around his shoulders, and Conner rolled his eyes at his mother's explanation. Still, living in a ghost hunters' house could be really cool. Maybe they would see some ghosts too!

A petite woman came out of the front door, wearing a teal hazmat suit, complete with red tinted goggles. Alex frowned at her choice of dress, and Conner agreed with his brother, for once, about her pick of outfit. Sam was a bit taken aback as well, but she quickly got over it, having been encountered by weirdness before. She only hoped that the Fentons were a good kind of weird.

"Hello, I'm Maddie Fenton, call me Maddie," the woman greeted with a smile. "You must be Samantha."

"Sam," Sam corrected her. "That's um, quite an addition you have," she pointed to the roof.

"Oh yes," Maddie said looking over her shoulder at it. "That's the op's center. It's used in emergencies, like hostile ghost takeovers."

Sam blinked in confusion at the woman and considered turning around and getting back in the car.

"Would you like to see the rooms?" Maddie asked.

"Uh yes, that would be great. Conner and Alex, come out and say hi to Mrs. Fenton."

The boys tumbled out of the car and Maddie looked at them like any mother would.

"Oh they are precious," she said like a grandmother. "They reminded me of my Danny when he was little."

"You have a son?" Sam wondered out loud.

"Yes but he's all grown up and graduated collage now," Maddie said leading them inside. "So is my daughter, in fact, it's their rooms that we're renting out. They're right next to each other so the boys can share one and you can sleep in the next room."

The living room was normal enough with a TV, couch, and such. So was the kitchen and the upstairs looked fine from Sam's point of view. Maddie led them upstairs and to the left. There were two doors open and she let Sam look at both. They were fully furnished, clean, and allergy free as far as she could tell.

"This use to be Jazz's room," Maddie said as Sam sat on the bed of the more girly looking room since it was painted a muted magenta. "I wouldn't be surprised if she left something in that old desk of hers."

"I'll let you know if I find anything," Sam said getting up to look at the other room.

It was almost the same as the girly one, only the walls were painted blue with faint traces of rockets on the walls. She could tell that a boy had lived in here at one time since she had two of her own to deal with.

"This will be good for the boys," Sam said. "But I'm not sure if they would like sharing the bed."

"We can get a cot in here if we need too," Maddie said. "Actually, there might be an extra mattress that we can lay on the floor."

The phone rang in the hall and Maddie went to answer it.

"Hello?" she asked into the receiver. "Oh hi sweety. I was just about to call you. Do we still have that extra mattress from the old guest room before we converted it?... Yes that's what I thought. Would you mind coming over and help to move it?... Your father isn't up to it I'm afraid…. Thank you sweetheart. What did you want to talk about, since you called first?... Alright then, I'm looking forward to it. Bye-bye," Maddie hung up the phone and looked at Sam. "That was Danny, he'll be by later tonight to help move the mattress."

"That's very nice of him," Sam said.

"Oh Danny has a bit of a hero complex, but you can count on him for anything. You don't have to fear him in any way. Are you any good at cooking dear?"

"I'm a vegetarian, so I don't know what kind of help I'll be," Sam shrugged.

"Then you can help with the salad," Maddie smiled. "We're having lasagna tonight, should I make your part meat free?"

"That would me great Mrs. Fenton."

"Maddie, please."

"Maddie then. Where's the kitchen?"

Sam and the boys had joined Jack and Maddie for dinner and it went great. Jack was a big man with a hazmat of the orange nature, which sent the boys into peals of laughter when they saw him. Jack was a bit of a clown, but he had a good heart and took the boys' laughter as something to ignore.

About the time the dishes were being done, the doorbell rang. Jack got up to answer it after Maddie had asked him.

"Jazz!" Jack beamed as his daughter walked into the house.

"Hey Dad, Danny said you have a tenet," Jazz said, bringing up the rear with her little daughter, Jane.

"Then come in, don't want you to miss out on the fudge," Jack said scooping Jane up in his arms and sitting back down on the couch.

Sam came in from the kitchen and shook hands with Jazz. She was probably about two years older than Sam, her daughter about the same age as Alex, maybe a little younger. She had red hair, like her mother and teal eyes. Jazz was almost a carbon copy of her mother, as was Jane of her mother and grandmother.

"I'm Sam," Sam said after they had shaken hands. "And these are my boys, Conner and Alex."

"Nice to meet you Sam," Jazz said. "Jane is there with Dad. So what exactly brought you to this place? I couldn't wait to move out."

"Well, I like the unusual, plus Alex is allergic to anything, so a clean place was important."

"Well then good choice. Just watch out for random explosions."

Then the phone rang again. Maddie was quick to answer it.

"Hello?... Danny! When are you coming over? Jazz just… oh, I see. Well be careful. Bye-bye," she hung up the phone and turned to everyone. "That was Danny, he won't be coming. Seems something came up."

Danny closed his cell phone just as another blast from Valerie nearly knocked him out of the sky.

"Hey! I'm on the phone here!" Danny yelled, brandishing the phone as proof.

Valerie took another shot and Danny dodged again, but his phone was crumbled into dust by the near heat of the blast.

"Now you aren't," Valerie said shooting yet again.

"Crap! Do you know how fast I go through those!?" Danny yelled at her while shooting his own blast at her.

"I don't care! You probably steal them anyway," Valerie said, dodging his blasts.

Danny ground his teeth in frustration. He really hated it when Valerie caught him after he just captured a ghost. He was tired after he had managed to stuff Desiree and her little wish granting messes into the thermos, now he had Valerie on his tail, and the best he could do was just run.

He flew through the air like a rocket, taking Valerie on a confusing path through the city. He took her through populated areas so there was less of a chance that she would shoot at him.

He took her through the carnival at the docks, the rides roaring their loud metallic clacking noise and people shouting, laughing, and just having a good time. Danny did a tangled course through one of the rollercoaster rides, winding through the steel beams as if it was an obstacle course. Valerie managed to follow him, but eventually, her board went one way and she went the other direction. She landed in a bounce-around, growling as Danny flew off into the night.

"That was close," Danny said returning to the main part of town. "Jazz is going to kill me for loosing that phone. At least I didn't get any scrapes this time, and I have got to stop talking to myself."

He flew to his parents to put the contents of his thermos back into the Ghost Zone, but he had forgotten that they had guests over.

He phased through the front door and became solid when he was inside the house, but he realized that was a bad mistake when he saw three people that didn't belong in this picture. He saw the people he had helped out on the highway earlier that morning, the woman and the two boys.

Everyone was staring at him, which was making him uncomfortable.

"Hello everyone," he said nervously, hiding the thermos behind his back. "Glad to see you made it into town alright," he said to the black haired woman.

"What are you doing here?" Jack asked him, sounding stern yet curious.

"Just making a deposit Da—I mean Mr. Fenton," Danny said, blushing at his slip and showing the thermos. "Um, yeah, I'm just going to go now. Sorry."

He phased through the floor, almost unable to control the action because of his embarrassment. He quickly shoved his catch into the portal and phased back outside and turned human.

"That was close," he said, putting his ear up to the door to listen in. "Maybe I should just go in, or would they connect the dots? Naw, not after the first encounter with clumsy Danny Fenton."

"What was he doing here?" Sam asked her new landlords.

"Oh, he uses our portal to put the ghosts back," Maddie said, avoiding Sam's eyes as if she was hiding something. "He doesn't come around unless he needs something."

Alex didn't have his blanket over his head this time, but he seemed to be frozen where he stood. Conner waved his hand in front of his brother's eyes, but there was no reaction from the younger boy.

"Mom, Alex is in shock again," Conner said rolling his eyes.

"Oh no."

Sam went over to check her child while there was a knock at the door. Jazz opened it up and let in whoever was there.

"Uncle Danny!" Jane said, jumping off of her grandfather's lap and running over to the black-haired man.

"Jane!" Danny said stretching his arms out and scooping the girl up in a friendly hug. "How are you today?"

"Okay, the food was palpable in the lunch room today, but Sally was being over vivacious again during cheerleading practice," the eight-year-old said.

"Oh, vivacious is a new word," Danny smiled at her, setting her down on the couch.

"I learned it yesterday," Jane said proudly.

"Just like you, how do you manage that?" Danny asked his sister in wonder.

"It comes naturally little brother," Jazz said smiling mischievously at him.

Danny frowned and turned to his parents' new tenet.

Sam was a bit unsure about this man; he seemed familiar for some reason. His hair was black and unruly, his eyes an icy blue, and his figure stated that he worked out a lot.

"Hey, I'm Danny," he said, giving his hand to her for a shake.

She took it and was surprised that his grip wasn't very hard.

"Sam," she said and turned back to her youngest. "Alex sweety, can you hear me?"

"What happened to him?" Danny asked, leaning down with Sam to the boy's eyelevel.

"Phantom came in and shocked him into a statue," Jazz said, looking pointedly at him.

Danny's face became red and he rubbed the back of his neck in nervousness. Sam wondered why that would cause the man embarrassment.

"Maybe I can help," Danny said snapping his fingers in front of Alex's prone face. "Mom, do you still have those samples from last October?"

"Uh, yes, they're in the fridge," Maddie said, pointing to the kitchen.

Danny got up and walked into the kitchen. He came back with a small bowl of some green mushy stuff, and it looked like he was holding his breath.

"Oh this stuff is nasty," he muttered under his breath. "Okay, here we go."

He placed the bowl under Alex's nose and the boy nearly jumped out of his shoes from the smell.

"What was THAT!?" Alex squealed, holding onto Sam's leg.

"Cool!" Conner said getting closer to the goop, but Danny slammed the lid on it and hurriedly put it back in the fridge.

"You don't want to know," Jazz said looking like she was about to throw up.

"Well, now that I'm here," Danny said coming back in. "How about we get that mattress?"


	2. Chapter 2

Conner was told to stay by the couch with Alex and Jane as the adults conglomerated on how to get the mattress up from the outdoors garage to the second floor of the house. The boy was watching them debate it as Alex and Jane watched the television.

Conner really couldn't quiet put his finger on it, but he was sure he had seen that man before, the one they called Danny. The guy was big, tall, and had a passive expression as everyone else talked and he looked bored. He must have looked like half of the guys that came to the house when he was still living with his dad.

"How about this," Danny interrupted the debate. "I get the mattress out of the garage, take it through the door and drag it up the stairs. The girls tell me where to put it and Dad stays put until his back heals."

His voice left no room for argument as he started to make it way towards the door. They had debated for half an hour, and within fifteen minutes, Danny had gotten the mattress upstairs. Conner watched in wonder as Danny lugged it up the steps by himself. He knew that a mattress was heavy, he had tried to move his own from his bed a little while back. How could one guy pull it up a flight of stairs?

Danny came back down and saw Conner staring at him.

"I ate my vegetables when I was a kid," the guy explained.

"Uncle Danny, look at the news," Jane exclaimed, turning the volume up.

Conner turned towards the T.V. and saw the same odd ghost who had come in through the front door earlier that night.

"Who is he exactly?" Conner asked as Alex pulled the blanket over his head.

"His name is Phantom," Danny explained, turning the volume back down and glancing at Jane. "He protects the town from evil ghosts."

"Like a superhero!" Jane summed up. "He's really cool, and handsome."

Danny grinned at her, but it was replaced by a scowl.

"You're eight Jane, you shouldn't be thinking like that yet," he pointed out.

"Mommy says I can think however I want if it isn't damaging my morality," Jane said sticking her tongue out.

Danny rolled his eyes at his niece.

"Is he dangerous?" Conner asked, going back to the topic of Phantom.

"Only if you're an evil ghost," Danny said ruffling Conner's hair. "You guys don't have to fear him."

Alex peeked at Danny from the edge of his blanket, doubtful of what he said.

"Well it's getting late," Sam said coming into the room. "Bed boys, now."

Her voice was stern as she pointed up the stairs. Conner got up, pulling his scared brother behind him. Jazz grabbed Jane and waved goodbye to everyone.

"Remember you have to pick Jane up from school tomorrow," Jazz reminded her brother.

"I'll be there, won't I Janey?" Danny said asking the child.

"I know you will," Jane giggled, following her mom out of the house.

"You really seem to have a good connection with her," Sam observed.

"Well, I look after Jane when Jazz can't, which if often. We have fun," Danny said stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Um, if it isn't too much trouble, would you mind picking the boys up as well?" Sam asked, looking nervous. "I'll be at work, I just got a call that my entire inventory just came in."

"Sure, I can pick them up. Alex is in the same grade as Jane, so is Conner still in elementary school?"

"No, Conner skipped a grade and is in middle school now. He's having a tough time with it, being younger and all, but he's very smart for his age."

Danny nodded. He may be teaching Conner's English class tomorrow. He could talk to the boy then if he did see some things he didn't like happening in the school.

As Danny walked home that night, he couldn't help but think of the woman. She seemed so lost, so scared; of what he didn't know. Maybe her ex-husband? To place her children in the hands of a man she didn't know took a lot of courage; then again, maybe she picked up something from his parents or his sister on how trustworthy he was, or had been of late. To be honest she struck a chord with him that he was alien too, but he liked it, a lot.

After waiting for Conner to get outside, Danny drove over to the elementary school, just a block away. The older boy was very quiet, even in English where Danny encouraged the kids to speak up. He was known as the favorite at the school, but Lancer would soon have a replacement and the weather would be good again for the busy and the richly to fly on business or pleasure. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to show the boys around town later, and maybe their mother. Danny quickly shook the image out of his head.

"What happened to you?" Conner suddenly asked, looking at Danny from his seat in the back.

"What do you mean?" Danny asked warily, had he noticed something?

"Your leg, I saw you limping in the hall."

"Oh, that," Danny sighed in relief. "I fell when I was sixteen on a camping trip. I landed wrong on my leg and it's been like that ever since. I'm surprised that you noticed, most people can't see that sort of thing."

"Mom says I'm pretty observant," Conner nodded.

"Your mom was right. Oh, there they are."

Jane was pulling a distraught Alex to the car. The boy looked like he had been through prison and was realizing the outside as if he had never been in it.

"What happened to you?" Conner asked his brother.

"It was horrible," Alex said getting his blanket from his back pack. "I like our old school."

"We use to go to a private school," Conner explained when he saw Danny's look.

"Oh, yes public school can be different, but it can be fun too," Danny nodded. "There are a lot of events coming up for spring celebration. Like the carnival at the docks."

"That's going to be so awesome!" Jane said, than something caught her eye in the back of the car. "What's with all of the boxes?"

"Oh, that's my little secret," Danny teased. "I'll let you know when it's the right time."

"You sound like Clockwork," Jane rolled her eyes.

"Who's Clockwork?" Conner asked, interested by the name.

"Oh, uh, he's just another figure that floats around," Danny said dismissively. "He's a bit like a wise man."

Conner frowned. It sounded like Danny was lying, but why would he? Before he could ask, they came up the Fenton's house and Danny seemed eager to go inside.

"What do people do for fun around here?" Conner asked, sliding into a seat in the kitchen. "Amity is pretty bland."

"Well, Uncle Danny sometimes takes me up in his plane," Jane mused.

"You have a plane?" Conner asked, excited.

"Yes, I'm sort of like a rent-a-pilot," Danny admitted. "Anyone want cookies?"

"Me!" Jane said raising her hand.

"Are there any nuts in them?" Alex asked. "I'm allergic to nuts."

"No nuts Alex, they're sugar cookies," Danny reassured him.

"Alex can't have those because of the peanut butter," Conner said, snatching one for himself.

"Oh, I never thought of peanut butter as a nut. It's more like nut paste," Danny said to himself.

"Actually, peanuts aren't nuts at all," Jane said, looking proud of herself.

"Then what are they smarty pants?" Conner challenged.

"I don't know, I just know they aren't a nut."

"I don't think anyone knows what they are," Alex spoke up.

"Nut or no nut, it isn't getting homework done," Danny said, feeling the irony of it all. "You two go get started while Alex and I find him something that's guaranteed not to puff him up like a balloon."

"Or make him break out in hives, or anything that can trigger his asthma, or—"

"I get the point Conner," Danny said. "Go, both of you."

It had been fairly quiet around the house for a while now. With homework done and pizza remains scattered all over the kitchen top, the kids popped in a movie and were watching it with intense attention—attention that should have been spared in the classroom—when a loud bang echoed through the still atmosphere. Jane jumped and clutched at Alex who had thrown his blanket over his head to protect himself. Conner had yelped, jumping an inch from the carpet from where he had been sitting on the floor. He turned to look into the kitchen, but he didn't see any movement in there. He got up, tiptoeing over to the sound, fearing of breaking the law if he interrupted the quiet again.

"What is it?"

Conner looked behind him to see that Jane had dragged Alex over to the kitchen doorway for a peek.

"I don't know, I don't see anything," Conner said, finding the kitchen empty.

"It sounded like it came from the basement," Jane pointed to the door that had been labeled off limits by the Fentons.

"We aren't supposed to go down there," Alex squealed, pulling up the corner of his blanket to see what they were talking about.

For once, Conner agreed full heartedly with his brother. He didn't want to go down there and find a ghost or something. As cool as it seemed a day ago, it wasn't a hot idea now with just the three of them there.

"Hey, where's Danny?" Conner asked, suddenly aware that the adult was nowhere to be seen.

_Clang!_

Everyone jumped and turned their heads towards the open basement door. Something was coming up the stairs.

_Clang!_

The three huddled together, hearts pounding and throats dry in fear.

_Clang!_

They could see the head of it now. It was slimy, it was green, it was—

"Uncle Danny?"

Danny came up the last of the steps, looking annoyed. He was covered in head to toe in some nasty green waste that didn't look like it came from this earth.

"It looks like some booger monster just puked on you," Conner said, holding back laughter at the look at Danny's face.

"Uncle Danny, what happened?" Jane asked, looking worried.

"Rats," Danny spat out. "Big ones."

The kids stared at him for a moment with big eyes and confused looks. How could rats cause this kind of damage?

"I'm going to take a shower; can you handle everything for like, five minutes?" Danny said, heading upstairs while he talked.

"Don't worry about us," Conner assured him.

Danny nodded to him and climbed the stairs, his shoes squelching with each step. Jane and Alex were almost rolling on the floor, trying to contain their laughter, Conner was close to joining them, but he was keeping an ear out for the door. When he heard the click, he broke out laughing. The other two joined him, holding their sides from the pain.

"That was hilarious," Conner choked out when he was done.

"You should have seen him on Thanksgiving last year," Jane said, laughing again from the memory. "I can't look at cranberry sauce without cracking up."

"Uh guys?"

The two looked to Alex, who was staring down the dark stairway into the lab.

"What is it?" Conner asked, joining his brother by the door.

"Do you really think rats made that mess?"

Conner looked down the stairs and into the lab. It was a big room with some sort of door on the other end. Experiments, tables, and computers covered the rest of the lab, but they were all in disarray. Green gunk was everywhere, covering the equipment, infecting the ceiling and floors, and causing some of the machinery to spark and steam.

"It looks like a tornado ripped through here," Conner said, mouth agape.

Suddenly, the door slammed shut. The boys were startled and looked down to see that Jane had shut the door to stop them from staring.

"We can't go down there," she said seriously. "Come on, let's finish the movie."

She grabbed Alex by the hand and dragged him back to the den. Conner took one last glance at the lab door before shrugging and joining them.

"Stupid ghost rats," Danny grumbled, rinsing his hair for the fourth time. "Stupid ghost rats and their phlegm!"

After feeling that his hair was clean, he turned off the water and grabbed a towel. He still felt sticky all over, but it would have to do. He had to keep an eye on the kids. He decided his clothes were a lost cause and put in the 'destroy' hamper. Maddie would burn it later, or take samples from it—he really hoped that she would burn it.

He opened up the cabinet and reached to the back wall. He put slight pressure on it and he felt it give way. Taking his hand back, the wall slid into itself and he picked up what was in the hidden compartment—a clean pair of clothes.

His mother had insisted that he have one in the bathroom in case he needed to change quickly from a ghost attack, plus it saved him grief from having to go out into the hall in a towel and get what he needed from a different room.

He pulled his pants on first and was just about to put his shirt on when he heard the front door open and close downstairs. He rushed out of the bathroom and saw that Sam was back from work. She spotted him at the top of the stairs and then looked back down quickly, her face fully red.

'What's her problem?' Danny wondered to himself.

He shrugged the shirt on as he came down the stairs, grabbing his car keys from the table at the bottom.

"Hey can you keep an eye on them now?" he asked Sam. "I need to get some things done."

"Uh, sure," Sam looked back up, her face still red but she could look him in the eye again. "I'm here all night anyway."

"Good, so, how did work go?"

"I'm just re-shelving some things. I rented that little store on the corner of Harry Street and I'm going to be running my book store there."

"Book store? What kinds of books?"

"Oh, pretty much anything that has to do with the supernatural world and dark myths."

Danny smiled at the irony, "Well you came to the right place."

"Where are you off too in such a hurry?" Sam asked, seeing him fidget closer to the door as they talked.

"Oh, I'm moving, but don't tell anyone! I'm getting away from my crazy sister," at Sam's confused look he explained. "She thinks I'm still five and need to be watched over constantly. She already has Jane to look after and she doesn't have to baby me."

"I don't see that as any reason why you can't tell her," Sam said, raising an eyebrow.

"Trust me, don't tell her. I want to be fully moved in before I tell her. So she can't move closer to me."

"Okay, so where are you moving?"

"Across town, across from her at least. I can still make good time getting here and to my plane."

"That far huh? Seems a little extreme don't you think?"

"No," Danny blinked at her, dumbfounded that she would think that, than he grinned. "You'll find that the absurd is the norm of this family. I have to be the most sane and yet the most odd at the same time. So, if you need to get away from the weirdness—or just from being a mother—give me a ring."

"I'll be sure to do that."

Danny waved as he walked out the door, leaving Sam alone in the room.

"Holy crap," she whispered to herself, finally letting her mask fall from her face. "I had no idea he was so ripped!"

He had everything that a woman dreamed of. It was like he had the body of Adonis for crying out loud! All sorts of bells were going off in her head, most of them screaming that the hot-o-meter was off the scale. Her ex-husband practically lived to work-out, and he had nothing on Danny. How did such a scrawny guy get that ripped? He would have to be a health nut to be this way. Maybe some of it was just physical attraction and her mind was making him even hotter then he actually was. Hey, it could happen right?

She had to admit, he had caught her eye the first time he came through the door of Fenton works last night. His scruffy look was somehow charming to her, and she just couldn't explain it. She saw jocks pick on kids like him all of the time in high school, and she had no doubt he had his share of bullying. Plus it looked like he was trying to hide it.

No sane bachelor would hide _that_ from a pack of females. At least, she assumed he was single. Maybe he had a girlfriend or something. Whoever that woman was, Sam was incredibly jealous of her, and she was never jealous.

"Get him out of your head Manson," she told herself sternly, like she was telling Conner to stop making fun of Alex. "You don't need a guy in your life, you'll be just fine on your own."

She tugged her shirt down and marched into the kitchen, ready to clean up the mess she had seen earlier.

Conner saw the whole thing happen from the den doorway. He saw how flustered his mom became and how fidgety Danny was around his mom. Even last night Danny seemed to be avoiding her for some reason. He also saw the look on his mother's face after Danny was gone, and heard the words fly from her mouth. Did his mom have a crush on Danny?

Conner didn't like the idea of Danny moving in on their family. He didn't need another dad. His own dad would be coming for them soon enough anyway and things would go back to the way they were, but he had to keep Danny away from his mom and vice-versa if he wanted that to happen.

He was so going down.


	3. Chapter 3

**Yes, it's short compared to the other chapters, but I just couldn't continue this one without falling into the next chapter which ment this one would have been more then twice as long. The next part is big and it's coming close to an ending already. The next chapter will really get things moving. **

**For now--time for some Youngblood action!**

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**_Part 3------_**

"What!!"

"I'm sorry Mr. Fenton, but the test was positive. She's pregnant."

"But, that's not possible! She's never out of the house."

"The tests don't lie, and neither does her waist size."

"I hope you don't expect to keep it young lady," Danny scolded.

"Meow?"

Dawn looked confused at her master, his face leaning in close to hers on the examination table at the vet's office.

"Actually Mr. Fenton," the vet interjected, "it's sure to be a large litter. A lot of kids are going to be happy come Christmas time."

"And after, I'm going to make sure that this never happens again," Danny straightened and looked at the x-rays of his cat that were illuminated on the wall.

He couldn't really make out how many there were, but there were at least five he could see. Tiny little balls inside his cat's rapidly expanding stomach. He had been worried about Dawn after he had managed to move into his house without tipping off his family. Afraid that something was seriously wrong with her, he took her into the vet's about a week ago and the test results were back that day. Needless to say, he was freaked.

"I'm sure Dawn can handle things by herself," the vet said, smiling at the owner's obvious discomfort. "She's very healthy, and if she can handle her pregnancy like she has, you have nothing to worry about. She can take care of the birth herself and look after the kittens until they're six weeks old. It will be just in time for Christmas, and parents will be looking for free pets by then for their kids."

"I'm glad I could be of help," Danny grumbled picking his cat up. "See you in a week."

"See you Mr. Fenton."

The ride home was quiet, the only noise being the purring in the back seat. When they got inside, Dawn jumped from Danny's hands and went straight to the heater under the couch. Danny sighed and plopped himself at his kitchen table. He saw the machine blinking on the counter and pressed the button.

"Hey Danny, it's Jazz," his sister's lively voice picked up on the machine, making him groan. "I was just wondering if you could babysit Jane on Friday night. I have an important meeting to go to and Mom and Dad can't watch her because of Dad's back problems. You guys can go out and watch a movie if you want, just no late night flights this time, and I mean it! Call me back when you get this, bye."

He was going out on patrol anyway. He would fly by Jazz's place and tell her later. Right now, he wanted to go check on the portal back at his parents' house.

The portal had been acting up strangely for the past few weeks and Danny was uncomfortable with it. Maddie said it was just a power flux and that they would be shutting down for repairs that night when they got back from a conference. Danny had been keeping guard over it since then, never trusting the portal to spit out something good.

He set out some extra food for dawn and then left, via phasing through the roof.

He knew he would be alone when he got there. Jazz was at work, Sam was managing her book store, and the kids were at school. A perfect time to run some scans without having to answer questions.

The portal was in its normal state when he landed in the lab, but he eyed it warily as he changed back into his human form and sat down at the computer. He had been running scans for a few hours before he heard the door open upstairs. His bleary eyes focused back into the dark interior of the lab as the rushing of feet came to his ears.

"Alex! Conner!"

It was Sam's voice, sounding scared and worried. He rushed out of the chair and up the stairs, only to run into the door. He had planned on phasing through it, but his parents had made it phase-proof since they found out his secret—but why the door and not the ceiling—he would never know. He also thought it would be a bad idea to just walk through it and have Sam notice it. After rubbing his injured nose, he grabbed the handle—with every intention of opening the door—only to find that it was locked.

"Crap," he said. "Can this day get any worse?"

"Danny?"

"In here Sam, I locked myself in—again," he tried to sound sheepish like Danny Fenton would sound.

He heard the door unlock from the other side and a distraught Sam opened it for him. Tear stains were running from the corners of her eyes, her dark mascara running with them.

"Sam, what's going on?" he asked, guiding her over to a chair and sitting her down.

"It's Conner and Alex, I can't find them," she said, hands trembling. "They didn't come by the store like they're supposed to. I went to the schools to see if they were still there, but both of them said that neither had shown up for classes."

"Did you see them get on the bus this morning?" Danny asked, Phantom instinctively taking over.

"Yes, I waved them off at the corner like I always do," Sam covered her eyes with her hands. "They could have gotten off at another stop."

"What makes you say that?"

"Their clothes are gone, and all sorts of other stuff that would be needed for running away."

"How would you know?"

"I've done it before, I know a runaway-room when I see one."

Forgetting about his scans in the lab, Danny grabbed the car keys to the Fenton RV and went out to the garage, Sam following him.

"Where's the first place a runaway kid would go?" he asked Sam as they got in the vehicle.

"Knowing Conner he had a plan. He would probably get on a bus or something, but nothing like that is around here."

"There's the old train station," Danny said, peeling out of the drive way. "It stops by to reload and fuel there. They could hop it."

"But where does it lead?"

"Outside of Amity, towards L.A. I think."

"That's where their dad lives. They must be trying to get back to him."

"Why would they?"

"Conner blames me for the breakup, he hates me for it. He's always loved his dad but he never sees the real side of him. Talking Alex into going wouldn't have been hard."

Danny nodded and hit the gas, thankful that he had inherited his father's wreak-less driving, but attained his fast reflexes and judgment from the ghost hunting and his mother. The two combined created a very fast clunky vehicle plowing through the streets of Amity to the old train station. Danny had only been there twice, both times involving Freak Show.

_I hope they're okay, _he thought.

"Conner, are you sure this is a good idea?"

The elder looked to his younger brother and saw how scared he was.

"Don't worry man," Conner said, grabbing Alex's hand and tugging him along, "Dad will meet us at the next town, he said so."

"Then why didn't he come for us?" Alex asked—that didn't sound like their dad to him.

"Because Mom would have a cow if she saw him here," Conner said as if it was obvious. "Let's get going, I think I found a car we can jump."

Conner peeked into the dark, empty interior of the box car. He threw their bags into the compartment and then jumped up himself. He leaned back out and grabbed Alex's arms and pulled him up to sit beside him.

Alex pulled his blanket over his head again and huddled against the wall of the car, Conner kept watch, but he was getting tiered and his eyes were drooping.

"YAR MATEIES!"

The yell made Conner become wide awake and for Alex to squeal like a girl. Conner turned his head to see who had spoken and gawked at what he saw. It was a young ghost—probably no older than his brother. It was floating near the ceiling of the boxcar, dressed in pirate garb and had a skeletal parrot on its shoulder. The ghost was grinning from ear to ear as it looked at them.

"What do you want?" Conner asked, his voice shaky in fear.

Maybe leaving the house wasn't a good idea.

"I want someone to play with," the ghost said, coming near his face. "Do you want to play with me?"

Conner shook his head. He had gotten over dress-up a long time ago and Alex never touched anything old because it might contain mold or dust. The ghost didn't seemed pleased by this however. He took out his glowing green pirate sword and swung at Conner's head. Conner ducked, hearing the thud as the sword was wedged between the wooden boards of the boxcar.

"Oh nice going," the parrot squawked as the ghost tried to tug the sword out of its stuck state—but it wasn't budging.

"Come on Alex," Conner grabbed him and started to run.

They left the bags behind and jumped out of the boxcar. It was a longer drop then Conner thought. He fell with a yelp of pain as he jumped, his brother landing on him. He tried to get back up but he fell again as his ankle caused him a great deal of pain. Alex couldn't move or talk as he saw the ghost come out of the car and looked down on them with anger, his sword back in hand.

Conner felt his heart race and his brother cling to his shoulder in fright. They knew this was the end.

A bright light caused the ghost to fall backwards and back into the boxcar. It took Conner a minute to recognize the light as car headlights. He looked behind him to see the giant RV he had seen in the Fenton's garage come to a halt before them.

Their mom jumped out first and raced to them, Danny came out of the driver's side and looked around, as if anticipating trouble.

"Are you boys alright?" Sam asked them, hugging Alex as he jumped into her arms.

All Alex did was nod his head and hug her tightly as if he would never let go. Conner tried to get up, but he hissed in pain and sat back on the ground. His left ankle was on fire. Danny came up to him and looked at it.

"It looks like it's twisted," he said after a moment of glancing at it. "You'll need to stay off of it for a few days."

"It stings," Conner said, not knowing what else to say.

Danny nodded and picked the boy up. The adults carried the boys back to the RV. Danny bandaged Conner's ankle with an expert flourish.

_How did he do that so fast? _Conner wondered. _He would have to have done that a lot of times to be that fast and smart about twists and sprains. _

"Thanks," Conner mumbled to his savior.

"No problem," Danny smiled at him. "How did you sprain it anyway?"

"I fell out of the car after I grabbed Alex to run away from the ghost."

Danny stiffened for a moment, his hands still on the boy's leg. He pulled them away instantly as if afraid to be exposed of something.

"You'll have to tell me about it later," Danny said, trying to sound interested, but it sounded like he wanted more information than a story.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Told you I would update. I changed the plot line a litte, but it's still going to be fabulos! It's going to be a little bit longer then I thought, and I'm also planning a sequal to this, so keep a hold on to this. This chapter really picks up the story line so I'm saying and gaurenteeing that you won't have a boring read! _**

* * *

_**Chapter 4--**_

The hot July sun beat down on Phantom as he circled around Sam's book shop for the fourth time that hour. There had been some recent robberies at the store, the last one leaving a threatening message on her store windows, and he didn't want it happening again. He didn't know why he was getting so protective around Sam, but he blamed it on his hero complex and with that he managed to get a good night's sleep, or at least what he could grab if there wasn't a ghost around that needed capturing.

"Are you sure you don't want to call the police?" Phantom heard Jazz ask Sam as the two women swept up the devastation inside the store.

"I'm sure, they won't be able to do much anyway," Sam said, sounding perturbed, annoyed, but not scared. "Besides, I'm use to this. Kids use to do it to my shop in L.A. all of the time."

"Yes, but that was L.A. and this is Amity Park. We run from ghosts, not people," Jazz pointed out, glancing out the window to see her brother's ghostly form buzz by again.

"I'm not running Jazz. I'm installing a new security system next week that will hopefully stop all of this."

"Are you just going to float there or are you going to come in and help us?"

Sam was about to shout back at Jazz's outburst, until she realized that Jazz wasn't talking to her; her gaze was fixed on something in the window. Sam turned to see the infamous Phantom standing there, looking surprised that he had gotten caught looking in. Then he blushed slightly and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, a nervous gesture that Sam was sure she had seen somewhere else.

Phantom phased into the store and looked around, his ghostly tail flickering back and forth like a cat's tail.

"What's got you so pent up?" Jazz asked, not really sounding all that concerned.

"Nothing," Phantom growled back, face becoming a deeper red.

His tail morphed back into a pair of legs and he landed lightly on the part of the floor that they had just swept up to avoid the broken pieces of the bashed in windows and picture frames that use to hang on the walls.

Sam watched as his intense green eyes looked at the writing on the back wall behind the register.

_Go home witch! _

"I would go after the punks who did this," Phantom said, startling Sam by speaking straight to her, "but I deal with ghosts, plus I don't think I want to make a few new enemies."

"What makes you think a ghost didn't do this?" Sam asked him.

"For one, some idiot signed his name," Phantom pointed to bottom right-hand corner of the message. "I know that is a street kid, I've run into him a couple of times. Thinks he's a real hotshot."

"Well, the new system should give him a shock," Sam smiled evilly.

"I think it would be better if you called the police," Phantom advised. "Don't try to handle this yourself."

"I'll handle it anyway I want dead-boy," Sam poked him defiantly in the chest. "This is my store and this is the last time anyone tells me to call the police!"

Phantom only frowned, his face a mask to cover whatever emotion he was feeling. Did ghosts even have emotions?

"Just don't get yourself killed," Phantom shook his head with distain as he phased through the ground.

A moment later, Sam saw his body reappear from outside the shop and he took off to some other part of the city.

"What's with him?" Sam asked, getting a box to collect what merchandise had gotten damaged but could be repaired.

"I want to ask the same question," Jazz mumbled darkly to herself.

"What in the world were you thinking!?" Jazz yelled over the phone to her little brother.

"What was I suppose to do?" Danny asked, capping the thermos after he sucked up the Box Ghost yet again. "You had me cornered."

"You could have flown off you Jackass."

"Oh? I'm the Jackass?"

"Yes, you're the Jackass—in fact, you're just an ass."

Danny hung up, stuffing the new phone back into his belt. When he heard it ring, he hung up and turned it on silent. Jazz was not going to get to him tonight; he had other things to worry about.

"Get back here ghost child, so I can have your pelt on my wall!"

Like making sure Skulker didn't achieve his ultimate goal that night.

He dodged a blast from the mechanical hunter, but he heard sparks on his belt. He winced and looked down—his cell was melted.

"I really need to get a Bluetooth," he moaned as he punched Skulker on the face.

* * *

Sam was just closing up shop. She didn't like to stay late with the vandalisms going on, but she had to stay behind and get some stuff done that she had been putting off, but now she was done. It was just a quick stop to the bank then back to Fenton Works.

The cool night air was brisk and the street lights flickered on and off as she made her way to her car that had to be parked at the end of the block. This was a busy street during the day, but at night, it was almost completely deserted—emphasize _almost. _

Sam turned around when she heard her new glass windows breaking and the shouts of someone as they grunted to bang down the door again.

"Oh no you don't!" she yelled running back to her store.

She had just rounded the door way when she spotted five big men, black masks over their faces and various weapons in their hands. Maybe rushing in without backup wasn't such a good idea.

One of them made a grab for her, but she ducked and ran back out into the street. Someone was chasing her, but she didn't know how many because she didn't dare look back over her shoulder. She ran for about a block before she tripped on something and fell, scraping her elbow, knees, and face. She rolled onto her back, just in time to see a fist come at her head.

She rolled, letting the fist hit the asphalt instead of her face. The man cursed as the pain rolled up his arm, but he had a buddy with him that ran after her. Sam got back to her feet and continued to run.

* * *

"Well, that's the last of them," Danny said happily as he landed in an alley and transformed back into his human mode.

He walked out of the dark area, only to hit the pavement with his butt as something ran into him. He shook his aching head and looked up to see Sam much in the same position that he was in. He saw the blood running from the scrape on her cheek and he instantly became aware of something wrong. He didn't have to wait long because two gruesome gorillas came around the corner and spotted them.

"Get up and run," Sam told him, grabbing his hand and pulling him to his feet.

"Get behind me," Danny said, taking a fighting stance and shielding Sam with his body.

"What are you doing you idiot!? They're going to kill you," Sam hissed in his ear.

The first guy came up running, fist ready to punch in the face, but Danny pulled Sam down with him and he made a plant in the guy's gut. The man in black doubled over with a groan and made it to his knees. The other guy was shocked for a moment, but he came running, only this time, he had a bat in his hands. Danny pushed Sam back for her own protection as the second guy came swinging up to home plate. Danny dodged the blows of the bat and got an opening after the third swing. He punched the guy's lights out as his fist connected it nose and skull. The guy toppled on top of his larger friend and both of them laid there, groaning over their injuries.

"Amateurs," Danny shook his head.

Sam stood there in the street, eyes wide and mouth gaping. For the short time she knew Danny Fenton, he had been somewhat shy and reserved. She never would have thought that he could fight like that.

"You can fight?" she asked him in shock.

"Well, Mom is a ninth degree black belt," Danny said shrugging. "So was my last girlfriend."

"Oh," Sam said, "you have a girlfriend?"

_Why did she/I care anyway?_ They both thought.

"Well no," Danny said, feeling guilty for some reason. "Listen, let's call the police to wrangle up these two goons then we can go have a drink. I think you need it."

"Can we just skip to the drink?" Sam asked. "It looks like the goons made a break for it."

Danny turned back to see that they were the only breathing (okay for him semi-breathing) organisms there.

"Crap," he mumbled, "yeah, but we have to go to the police tomorrow morning."

"Fine, fine," Sam grumbled as Danny took her by the arm and led her down the street.

* * *

The _Flaming Ember _was probably the best bar in town, but not many living people used it. Those that didn't mind the low temperature often drifted in, but it was home to many ghosts that were not a threat to Amity Park. Danny came in often as well, since he always kept up with the gossip in the Ghost Zone and had actually made a few snitches his friends, so long as he had a twenty or more in his pocket.

Sam shivered when she walked through the door, but Danny didn't seem effected by the cold. She kept her coat on and joined him at a booth in the back.

"And what's it for you today dipstick?"

A slender woman wearing all black walked up to them and leaned in close to Danny, smiling in a teasing way. Her hair was blue, but her skin was as well, and her green eyes reminded Sam strangely of Phantom's own acid pair. Her tattoos were designed in an almost cultish look, but Sam guessed that she had gotten them when she was young and had thought that they looked cool—Sam knew she had.

"The usual for me, and what do you want Sam?" Danny asked, looking at her.

"The strongest Brandy you got," Sam said seriously with a dead-pan expression to the waitress.

"I like you already," she said with a wink at Danny, but he scowled at that. "I'll be right back with them."

"What was that all about?" Sam asked him, and couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious about how she was huddled in her coat right now—that woman had been wearing the skimpiest top and tightest pants she had seen on anyone—well other then Paulina in high school.

"That's Ember, she's the owner of the bar and we go way back," Danny answered, spinning his coaster around on the tabletop.

"Oh, you had a relationship?"

"Oh, thank heavens no!" Danny quickly became disgusted and horrified at the same time. "No, Ember and I actually hated each other for a while when we first met,"—and that was putting it lightly.

"Really, so what changed your opinion?"

"She needed help, she came to me, I helped, and we've been friends ever since then. Plus I can get free drinks when she feels in the mood to be nice. Ember is very much a Goth, but for some reason, she's sweet on me."

"Is that a good thing?" Sam said, jealously creeping into her head.

"I don't know, I consider myself lucky among the male population that has had the good grace to come into contact with her, at least, one of the surviving members left."

Sam shook her head. He talked about danger so casually.

"So, what's up with her?" Sam asked out of the blue.

"Huh?"

"She's got blue skin and glowing eyes like Phantom's," Sam pointed it out, as if it was obvious.

"Yeah, she's a ghost, so?" Danny shrugged his shoulders.

"So!? Don't ghosts destroy humans? Why are we even here? We could be dead soon."

"Calm down Sam, not all ghosts are evil you know," Danny leaned across the table and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Ember use to be bad yeah, but she straightened up. I come in every so often to make sure she's not up to anything diabolical."

"And, what about the rest of them?" Sam looked out to the other inhabitants of the bar.

"Yeah, most of them are ghosts too," Danny nodded. "I—uh, Phantom lets them stay here so long as they don't hurt anyone. It's kind of like a peace pact between ghosts and humans. The ghosts stay downtown and some people accept them, but most don't. They'll come out a night so they can hang out and stay hidden during the day."

Sam nodded numbly at his explanation.

"But I thought your parents hunted ghosts?" Sam asked.

"They hunt evil ghosts," Danny clarified. "Do you not remember when you first met Phantom? Why did Dad just jump up and grab him instead of talk to him?"

Sam nodded at that, but she soon became puzzled.

"You weren't there," she stated.

Danny visibly paled and he stammered for a moment before telling her that Jazz had told him of the incident. Sam didn't believe him, but she went along with his charade anyhow.

Ember came back with their drinks, traded remarks with Danny, than left again. Sam was shocked to see him converse so casually with a ghost. She knew that the Fenton parents wouldn't do as well as he did. They were too trigger-happy to be that calm.

"What?" Danny asked, catching Sam looking at him.

"Nothing," Sam said, blushing and looking down at her drink. "So, what's it like being raised by a couple of ghost hunters?"

"At first it was terrifying," Danny said, "but then it got better. They're like my best friends now."

"You're not embarrassed by them?"

"All the time, but it's a requirement of a parent to embarrass your kid every now and then. I've learned to live with it. What about you? You good with your parents?"

"I haven't spoken with those pompous ingrates for years," Sam snipped at him. "Sorry Danny, you didn't know that my parents are not a subject to talk about."

"Sorry anyway," Danny said, getting over his shock. "Um, what is safe to talk about?"

Sam raised an eyebrow at him.

"I want to keep my fingers," he stated, but with a teasing smile and a glint in his eye that made Sam chuckle.

"Fine, my boys are a good subject, my business, anything that has to do with the supernatural, any poetry you might know, preferably dark."

"Okay then," Danny nodded. "I can't supply the poetry, but I can supply plenty on the supernatural, not counting my best friend of course."

"Oh, that Tucker I met a while back?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, that's the one. Sorry about the remarks he made behind your back."

"It's okay, something tells me he had that boot-in-the-ass-thing coming for a long time," Sam said, smiling at the memory.

Danny laughed, "Oh, it's about time karma caught up to him."

"How did you two meet anyway?"

"First-grade, picture an innocent boy and the school bully that's three times their size since he had been held back," Danny illustrated for her. "Now imagine said bully laughing and walking away with said boy's legs sticking from the garbage can."

"Oh goodness! Which one of you was in the can?"

"Both of us. I was coming out of the bathroom when I found Tucker and helped him out."

"Does he tell it differently?" Sam asked.

"You know he does."

"How do I know that yours is the right one?"

"I'm not stupid enough to call the school bully stupid."

"That you are," Sam agreed. "I had this peppy witch on my case since middle-school. She was so shallow that she once had a date with three guys on the same night!"

"Wow," Danny stated, "and what was witchy's name?"

"Paulina Sanchez," Sam growled out.

"Oh, the Sanchez family," Danny said with the air of one who has an unexpected familiarity pop into his head. "Nice father, daughters are a little air heads though."

"You know them?" Sam was surprised.

"Yeah, I fly their plane. Pretty much everyone in the county and the surrounding three try and book me non-stop every summer."

"You're that good?" Sam asked.

"I can take you up sometime and show you, unless you're scared of heights."

"The only thing I'm scared of is pink," Sam said.

"Great, I'm warming the equipment up next week, you want to come out then?"

"Sure!"

_Wait, did we just make a date? _Sam asked herself when Danny was asking the very same question to himself as well.

* * *

**_Sparks are flying!_**


	5. Chapter 5

**_I know, it's been a while since I updated this one-but I'm pleased with how this one worked out._**

* * *

Chapter 5—

Fourth of July was right around the corner and the Fenton family was getting ready while everyone one else was batting down the hatches and making sure to have the fire department on their speed dial. Let's just say that Jack Fenton liked to make his own fireworks, claiming it was cheaper and he got a larger bang out of the toaster rockets then the regular ones. The day after the Fourth, Maddie would spend writing out apology letters to their neighbors and the residencies of the nearby area. The Fourth was also a chore for Danny since he had to fly over the city and make sure his father didn't blow up anything he wasn't supposed to.

"Don't touch that!" Danny grabbed Jane away from one of Jack's so called spinners and set her down out of the way. "Jane, remember the talk we had about touching Grandpa's stuff?"

"Yeah, but it's not glowing," Jane argued.

"Yes, but it's unpredictable," Danny argued back. "Now go find your mother and bug her."

Jane pouted, but went off into a different room while Danny picked up the box of experimental fireworks and hauled it up to the ops center. Tucker was up there, sitting in a lawn chair, shirtless with a pair of sunglasses over his eyes.

"Any particular reason you decided to sun bath on my parent's roof?" Danny asked, swiping the glasses off of Tucker's face.

"Uh, yeah," Tucker said, swiping the glasses back, "ever since that little incident with my neighbor and that ghost dog, I've been banned from getting an all over tan."

"Dude, it's cruel and unusual punishment if anyone catches you with an allover tan."

"I'm doing it for Valerie," Tucker argued back.

"Like I said, cruel and unusual punishment."

"Please, you can't even get a girl," Tucker changed the subject rather quickly out of desperation.

"I'm not interested Tucker," Danny warned him, picking up the box again and setting it on the table that was designed for this occasion.

"Please, you've been acting weird for the past couple of days. You're just too cowardly to make a move."

"For your information, I've made a date with her," Danny said, his pride more important than his dignity at the moment.

"Oh," Tucker said, surprised. "Who is she?"

Sam came barreling up the stairway, panting with the weight of the homemade fireworks in her arms.

"How can you handle these things?" she asked Danny as he took the box from her. "Those must weigh a ton."

"Actually they weigh—" Tucker never finished since Danny kicked his chair on 'accident' and the whole thing collapsed on his best friend.

"Sorry Tuck," Danny said with a smile, not looking sorry at all.

Sam snickered, "Why don't you help us out?"

"I've been banned from messing with strange technology," Tucker said ruefully, getting up and dusting himself off.

"Please put a shirt on, there are children here," Sam asked, covering her eyes.

Tucker muttered something under his breath at her comment, than he grabbed his shirt that he had left on the side of the chair and slipped it on. Danny could only roll his eyes at Tucker's behavior. He and Sam were always at each other's throats, considering that they were nearly polar opposites.

"You better get out of here Sam, Dad should be starting up anytime now," Danny warned her.

Sam nodded, going back down the steps. She, Maddie, and Jazz were taking the kids to the park for the legal fireworks show that was set to music. The guys would be stuck here, helping keep Amity Park from burning to the ground. Sam didn't envy them at all.

"Well, see you later Dan," Tucker said, heading the same way Sam was, but Danny teleported in front of his best friend, making Tuck stop in his tracks.

"You left me hanging last year Tuck," Danny warned. "You're staying here, even if I have to duplicate and have it overshadow you."

Tucker shivered at the unwelcoming idea and muttered some more about the unfairness of the world. Danny smiled at Tucker's discomfort, but he wished that he would be going with Sam to the park. He would be alone with her soon enough though, he was taking her up in his plane tomorrow so all he had to do was wait a few hours—those were going to be long hours.

"Okay boys!" Jack Fenton bounded up the stairs, almost tripping into one of the many cartons of homemade rockets. "Let's get this fired up!"

"I got the megaphone," Tucker said in a monotone that said he was use to this.

"I've got the Fenton fireproof catcher's mitt," Danny said, changing into Phantom and not looking very pleased at all.

"And I got the matches!" Jack yelled, a giant goofy grin on his face.

There were a few minutes of shuffling around in the boxes, a few argued and heated words, then the whole neighborhood ran for cover with the familiar warning blare of "Fire in the hole!".

* * *

Conner clapped when the next round of fireworks went off, a dazzling a-ray of silver and blue lit the sky up, reminding the boy of when Mr. Fenton tried to fix some invention in his lab and the whole house started to smoke and sparkle. That was not a fun day. Conner looked over at his brother, who was hiding the top of his head in his blanket, trying to cover his ears from the loud blasts, but he was watching with a fixed fascination. Jane and the women were sitting on the picnic blanket just a few feet behind the boys, eating dinner and watching the display.

"This is awesome!" Conner yelled over the crowd and the sounds of the booming lights.

"Yeah!" Alex yelled in agreement, but he still looked preoccupied.

"What's wrong?"

"I wish Danny was here," the younger sibling pouted.

"Why?" Conner was a bit confused as to what his brother meant by that.

True, he didn't hate Danny ever since the guy had come to their rescue that night they decided to run away, but he still didn't want Danny making a move on his mom. Dad was going to be coming back for them pretty soon, he just knew it.

"Danny's fun," Alex said, seeing that there was a break until the next show and the silence helped with them hearing each other. "He's cool, when Dawn had her kittens, I really wanted one, but Mom said it would aggravate my allergies. Then, at Christmas time, I found Apples in my room, all curled up with me in bed, and I wasn't sneezing or anything."

"Yeah, I remember the look on Mom's face when she saw you with that kitten, but what does that have to do with anything? Santa gave you Apples."

"No, it was Danny."

"How do you know?"

"I just do," Alex's smile suggested that he knew more than he was letting on, but Conner decided to ignore it. "And besides, I never remember Dad ever doing stuff with us."

Conner looked up at the sky, remembering all of the missed basketball games and school meetings that his father never showed up for. That's what had made him quit basketball, that's what made him strive harder for his father's attention—but he never got it. He had to admit, it was easier to get Danny's attention, the guy would put down anything to help Conner with a problem in his math homework and even helped him with his English papers by proof reading them and making suggestions on how it could be better. He was more fun to be around then his own father, but he couldn't turn his back on his dad. They were blood after all, and Dad always said that family came first above all else—so then why did Dad work so much more then he spent time with his family?

"What's that?"

Alex's exclamation made Conner look up at the sky at the bright light that suddenly appeared. At first he thought it was another rocket, but the light never faded, in fact, it seemed to grow stronger. All of the people fell silent as they realized that it was another ghost attack. Everyone got up and started running to their cars, screaming and trampling the grass and forgotten blankets as they tried to get to safety.

"Conner!" Sam yelled, trying to get to her son, but the people cut them off from each other.

Alex and Conner were stuck by themselves in the crowd and it was hard to not go along with them. The adults kept pushing them forward without meaning too, pushing them further from their mother and the Fentons.

"Mom!" Conner yelled, having thought he heard his name, but he looked back and didn't see a sign of his mother.

He felt something push against him. At first he thought it was someone and turned around, ready to punch them in the face, but when he turned, he saw a large vulture looking down at him with its dead red eyes. Conner locked up, fear keeping him from running or screaming. He could feel Alex lock onto his leg though, paralyzed just like him.

The vulture looked down on them, squeezing its eyes shut as if it had a hard time looking at them—like an old man with glasses. Conner leaned back as the vulture leaned forward, brushing its beak against the boy's shirt. Alex whimpered and held on tighter to Conner's leg, cutting off circulation and making the leg go numb.

"Get away from him."

Conner looked to his right and saw Phantom standing there, looking furious and reading to through some sort of glowing green ball from his hand. The vulture seemed to be startled then it saw Phantom. It cawed fearfully and tried to take to the air, but Phantom blasted it first and sucked it up into a thermos before it could get a foot off of the ground. The angry eyes turned fearful as the ghost looked at the boys.

"Are you guys alright?" the ghost asked.

Conner nodded and Alex did nothing, only stared. Then Conner looked around and saw everything was completely deserted. Foot prints were deep in the grass from the scared people and Conner couldn't see where they had camped for the night, couldn't see his family anywhere.

Phantom seemed to be looking around too, looking confused.

"Do you boys know where your mother is?" he asked, but he didn't get much out of the guys.

Phantom came forward and put a cold hand on Conner's shoulder.

"I know you're in shock but you need to tell me now; where is your mom?" Phantom's face looked very serious, but Conner couldn't supply an answer.

At his feet, Alex began to sniff, tears coming down his cheeks. Phantom noticed this and his face became very soft and concerned for the younger.

"Now don't do that," Phantom said quietly, picking Alex up with ease, crouching down closer to their height. "I'll get you home, I promise."

Alex—who was out of character at the moment—grabbed the ghost's neck and buried his face into the black shoulder of the ethereal being. Phantom didn't seem to find it awkward and only held him, knowing Alex needed the comfort.

"Come on Conner, get on my back," Phantom said, crouching even lower. "We're going for a ride."

Conner blinked, trying to comprehend what the ghost was saying. Without really thinking about it, Conner got on the ghost's broad back and wrapped his arms around the cold neck, looking confused as to why he was doing this.

"I won't let you fall," Phantom said, gathering Alex in his arms.

One whoosh later, Alex was waking up from his shock with the cold wind blowing on his face. His grip became tighter as he looked around him, then looked down. The whole city was beneath him, all of the lights of the buildings flickering and gliding like a thousand fireflies. Above, the stars were shining brightly. Their constellations were zooming overhead, as if they were in a star ship at warp speed.

"Awesome!" Conner chuckled at the sight.

"Yes, it is amazing," Phantom said, shifting to the side to ride a different air current. "I've been flying for years and it never gets old."

"Really?" Conner asked, intrigued about the ghost now then he was about the view. "How old are you?"

The ghost chuckled knowingly, "I'm not answering that young man. I've also been around the media for a long time too."

"That's not fair," Conner shouted, irritated.

"Oh I know it, if life was fair, I wouldn't be a ghost," but Phantom didn't sound upset about it. "So, where do I drop you guys off?"

Conner was about to say Fenton Works, but a hot pink blast that almost took his ear off silenced him and made Phantom to a U turn to see what had attacked.

"Oh crap," the ghost muttered, sounding really worried. "Hang on kid, I'm going to set you down someplace."

Another pink blast was fired at them and made Conner yell in fright.

"Put those kids down ghost!" an angry yell from an angry female shouted behind them.

"I'm not kidnapping them Huntress!" Phantom yelled back, blindly sending one of his green rays back at the ghost hunter.

The blinding light must have distracted her because Phantom had time to land and put Alex on the ground, who had been sleeping the whole time apparently. Phantom was about to put Conner down as well, but Huntress fired at the roof top and sent them both falling off of the edge. Conner screamed as they fell, but they didn't get very far before Phantom regained ground and came back up to face the angry red hunter before him in the sky.

"You alright Conner?" Phantom asked, looking over his shoulder at the boy.

"I'm fine," Conner nodded. "What about my brother?"

"He's safe, but we got to lose Huntress and I don't have time to set you down," Phantom barely dodged an attack before turning around and continuing as he flew. "Hold on tight and do as I tell you."

Conner tightened his grip, wondering if you could choke a ghost, and turned his head to look behind them. Huntress was right on their tail, her board gaining fast on the flying ghost.

"She's right on top of us," Conner told Phantom.

"Hold your breath," Phantom said, taking an immediate nosedive.

Conner gasped as the ground came rushing up at them. Then, remembering what Phantom had told him, he took a deep breath. A tingling sensation ran down his spine and soon they were traveling in the ground. It was completely black to Conner and he couldn't breathe down here, thus why Phantom told him to hold his breath. When Conner was sure he couldn't hold it any longer, Phantom broke back to the surface and they were facing the back of the Huntress. Phantom threw a blast at Huntress's back and it knocked her off of her board. Phantom then charged her, fists first, but he didn't grab Huntress—he grabbed her board.

"Conner, disable this thing," Phantom told the boy as he landed and Conner jumped off.

"But how?"

"Just pull some wires or something," Phantom didn't seem to know how to disable the board either, but he did know there was a really pissed off Huntress aiming her hand gun at him again.

"You're so going to pay for that spook!" Huntress yelled, firing at Phantom with no concern for Conner.

"Get out of the way and disable that board!" Phantom yelled, blocking the shot with a shield.

Conner nodded and dragged the board over to an old alley and started to pry at the metal covering. He found an opening and noticed just how many wires were there.

"Oh boy," Conner muttered uncertainly, gazing at the maze of colorful lines before his eyes. "Which one? Which one?"

A yell broke his concentration and he peeked out to see what was happening in the fight. Phantom was on the ground, holding his arm as if it was on fire. Huntress was over him, ready to aim the gun again.

"Crap," Conner whispered to himself. "Phantom's going to get decimate unless I do something."

Conner grabbed a random wire and unplugged it, then he noticed an outlet box—the remote control generator. Smiling evilly, Conner quickly rewired the box and set the board flying outside. With the new coordinates in place, the board went straight for Huntress. He saw the board flying and Huntress screaming as it came right at her, then she was gone, taken to the sky by her own weapon.

Conner ran up to Phantom and gave the ghost a hand up.

"How did you do that?" Phantom asked, looking up at where Huntress had gone.

"Simple rewiring," Conner shrugged. "Let's get my brother and go home."

Phantom nodded with a smile and let Conner back up on his back. They found Alex still sleeping on the roof top unharmed and Phantom flew them back to Fenton Works without any other interruptions.

"I hope Huntress is okay," Phantom said as they saw the giant ops center coming into view.

"Why?"Conner asked baffled. "She tried to kill you."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I should wish death on somebody else, especially on a human," Phantom said, sounding old all of a sudden. "She's misguided is all, and she's a little crazy. I don't want to harm her, I just want to be left alone."

Conner thought about what Phantom said, wondering if he really believed that, when he saw his mom on the street below, arguing with Jazz and Maddie.

"Mom!" he yelled from above, waving his arms to get her attention.

Sam looked up and her mouth fell open. Maddie looked a little surprised herself and Jazz only shook her head. Phantom landed softly on the ground and gave Alex to Sam who was crying with relief.

"Thank you," she gasped out when she got back under control.

"It's what I do," Phantom said humbly, setting Conner down. "And your boy is very brave."

"I am?" Conner asked. "But I hid, and I froze up when those vultures were facing me."

"Yes, but you showed great courage by just being there and not backing down Conner," Phantom kneeled down to his level. "You were also there when I needed you. You saved me today, I'm sure of it. Huntress would have killed me otherwise. Don't sell yourself short."

Conner had never heard anyone talk to him like that—like they believed in him.

"I got to go, but I'll see you guys again soon," Phantom got back up to his full height and saluted before he took off into the sky.

"Thanks," Conner whispered after his wake.

"Come on," Maddie steered him towards the door. "You guys sound like you need to get to bed. You can tell us what happened in the morning."

Conner nodded as he yawned and started to make his way up the stairs, but then something struck him. He never remembered telling Phantom his name.


	6. Chapter 6

_**I tried to make this a good chapter-I really did-but I think it tanks! Please let me know if it tanks! **_

_**

* * *

**_

Sam accepted more coffee from Maddie as she shakily held the mug in place for the older woman to pour it. Maddie eyed Sam worriedly then glanced at Jazz who was checking up on her daughter in the living room.

Sam had been hysterical when she found out her boys hadn't followed them to the house. When they went back to the park to search for them, they were nowhere in sight. Maddie had been about to call Danny to see if he could help with the search when he came down with the boys. She would have to call him and find out exactly what happened, but all that mattered now was that the boys were fine. Sam was still getting over her shock, but Maddie knew she would be fine.

The door opened softly and Danny poked his black-haired head through the opening.

"Is everything all right?" he asked, closing the door with his foot and looking at his mother. "I heard that the boys were gone—"

"Phantom saved them," Sam spoke up suddenly, if a little tensely. "He brought them back home after that horrible attack."

"That's great," Danny smiled at her softly. "I was worried there for a second, but you don't look so great."

"I had no idea where they were Danny, I was terrified that something had gotten them."

"How about we go out? You look like you could use a drink."

Maddie looked at her son with wide eyes while Jazz looked up with disapproval. Sam was oblivious to their looks though and got up to grab her coat. While Sam was busy with that, Jazz came up and whispered to her brother quickly.

"Danny what happened? What do you mean Conner saved you?"

"Now why would I steal the kid's lime light?" Danny asked with a secretive smile to counter his sister's disapproving frown. "Ask him in the morning Jazz. Are you staying the night?"

"No, I'll wake Jane up soon and go home. Why are you taking Sam out? You've been doing a lot with her lately."

"We're friends Jazz, we've gone for drinks before, this is no different."

Jazz gave him a look that said 'yeah right' and walked away so Sam could get to the door.

"Do you think there's a spark there?" Jazz asked her mom when the two had left.

"I don't know dear," but Maddie was smiling slightly. "You know Danny was supposed to take Sam up in his plane tomorrow. I don't think that's going to happen now."

"Yeah, if he starts dating Sam, then the boys are a part of the package. And I don't know if Sam is ready for a relationship yet."

"That's why Danny hasn't said anything Jazz. He knows that she might not want to get into a relationship right after she had a divorce. You really don't give him enough credit sweety. Now why don't you wake Jane and get home? It's late and you need your sleep."

"But what about—"

"Jazz, leave well enough alone. Danny is a grown man and can take care of himself. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go kick your father out of the lab again."

* * *

At the _Flaming Ember_, Sam was relaxing well after two glasses of a light wine. Danny didn't want to get her drunk, so he decided he should let her take it easy on the alcohol. He himself had nothing to drink, wanting to be completely sober in case something else happened.

"You alright?" he asked Sam when she put her empty glass down.

"I'll be fine," she said, than she stared at him with an odd expression.

"What?" he asked, unsure at what she was staring at.

"You, why are you so nice to me?"

Danny blinked, "I don't know what you mean."

"You are so different from other guys I've met," Sam said as if he hadn't spoken. "I mean, when I first met my ex, he was almost like you: cute, daring, sweet. Then I found out I was pregnant and I had to marry him. I always wondered why he liked to work all of the time. I found out he had another family, another son too with a different wife that was his first wife. You can imagine how I felt."

Danny said nothing, just watched Sam and listened to what else she had to say. She had never shared something this deep with him, and he wondered if she was already drunk after only two glasses of wine. She probably didn't have a high tolerance for it.

"Sam, are you feeling alright?" Danny asked, unconsciously leaning forward.

Sam leaned forward as well, propping her head up on her palms and keeping balance by putting her elbows on the table top. She had this goofy grin on her face that made Danny think she was starting to lose touch with reality.

"I shouldn't really be here," Sam said suddenly, whispering so low that Danny could barely hear her over the din of the building. "I got in trouble in the first place because I was a heavy drinker—I think I was addicted. When I found out I was pregnant, I had to stop, and it was so hard Danny, I almost wanted to kill myself. But after Conner was born, I realized that I couldn't drink anymore; I wanted to be a good mother, I knew I had to stop drinking. My husband didn't however, he would tease me with it when he was drunk, and I almost gave in. I did once, at Christmas time when Conner was asleep. That's how I got Alex."

"Sam, are you sure you want to tell me all of this?" Danny asked, breaking her rant for a second.

Sam seemed to think for a second before answering, "Yeah, who else am I going to tell? I may not remember this in the morning—stress and all—but I don't think you'll tell."

"I won't tell," Danny promised, beginning to wonder if she was really drunk or not. "But are you sure? You haven't even been separated for a year yet."

"I don't have any friends to lean on, my parents disowned me—I don't have anyone else," Sam pleaded with him.

She reached her hand out and covered his. He could feel the heat off of her skin by that light touch, but that was all he felt, he was more caught up in her sad eyes and he found himself wanting to make that hurt go away.

"I'm listening," he said, brining his other hand over to cover Sam's hand that rested on his.

"After Alex was born, I went to a lot of parties," Sam said, sounding depressed and ashamed. "I just wanted to get rid of the responsibility; I wanted to be who I wanted to be. I stuck the kids with a nanny for most of their lives. Their father was rarely in the picture, and when he was, he wasn't much help. I can't remember the first three years of Alex's life, I wasn't there for most of it and when I was, I was drunk or hung over.

"When Alex had just turned three, I got the news that he was in the hospital. He had a severe asthma attack and nearly died from it. The fear that I felt made me want to die, Danny. It was then that I realized what I was throwing away, made me realize how important my boys were to me. I stayed with Alex the whole time in the hospital as he recovered and when he came out I never left his side. I got rid of the nanny and got my life together. I occasionally wanted to hit the bottle, but I resisted. I realized that's not who I wanted to be, but I couldn't he a stay at home mother either—that's not who I am. Then I got the idea of opening a book store—it was quiet, a place to keep the boys while they weren't at school, and I could earn my own money and that made me feel good. Life was actually good for a while—not happy at home, but I was happy with my books and my kids. It got to the point where we all just wanted to stay in the store and never go home. We always did though, to an empty house with no husband or daddy to greet us like he should.

"Then I found out his secret—his double life. I got the boys out of there and filed for divorce. The trial was long and sticky, but in the end, I only ended up with my store and my own bank account because none of it was in his name. I also got the boys, since it was clear that I was stable and had a steady income. I also argued that they didn't know the situation and it was best to leave them with me. The courts agreed and revoked all of my ex's privileges. He can never see the boys again, but he's fighting, trying to get them back. I'm so scared that he'll find me and take them from me—they're all I have left."

"And when they were separated from you at the park . . . that must have been terrible," Danny realized. "Maybe you should be with them now?"

Sam didn't say anything, but the need was clear in her eyes. Danny caught Ember's eye and nodded for the check. When everything was paid, Danny lead Sam out the door and back towards Fenton Works. The walk was quiet, but neither minded as the hot summer night started to stretch into the early morning hours.

Danny opened the door to his parent's house and walked Sam inside.

"Thank you," Sam said, wiping at the tears that were beginning to build in her eyes. "Um, I think we'll have to put our flight on hold."

"It's alright. You spend tomorrow with your kids, I think you deserve it," Danny answered.

"Actually Danny, would you mind coming with us?" Sam asked, startling her friend. "With everything that's happened tonight, another set of eyes would help me keep track of them, and they like you."

"If I won't be in the way," Danny shrugged, but inside he was unexpectedly filled with joy at being invited. "I know some places we can take them too, I you don't object."

"Oh no, it sounds nice," Sam looked down at the floor, hugging herself. "Um, thanks for letting me talk."

"Any time, I've been told I'm an excellent listener," Danny smiled sweetly at her, making her blush. "I've got to run, but I'll see you tomorrow."

"Um yeah, see you tomorrow."

When Danny had closed the door behind him, Sam stood there for a moment more before sighing. She went up the stairs and peeked into the boy's room; both were sound asleep, Alex curled up in a ball and Conner a startled mess with his blanket on the floor. Sam only smiled before going over quietly and putting the blanket back on him. She put his legs back in order so he wouldn't roll off the bed and pulled the covers up to his shoulders. Conner sighed in his sleep and rolled onto his side, clutching the blanket tightly around himself. Sam kissed him good night and did the same with Alex before she left their room.

Back in her own room, Sam couldn't sleep. She knew the boys were safe next door, but she wondered what had possessed her to ask Danny to join them tomorrow. She knew he had his secrets, like where he was all of the time when he wasn't stuck watching the kids and working. He had been busy since May with flying private jets and planes for the wealthy in the area, but between it all, he always managed to find time to make sure she was okay. He was a good friend, and Sam wondered if he was becoming something more than a friend in her mind.

The boys liked him at least; he really did know how to handle kids well. Conner looked some much happier since they had come here, but she knew it was Danny giving him the attention his father had neglected to give him in the first place that was making it a friendship between the two. Alex wasn't as timid either, Danny was so good at getting the boy to come out of his shell every once and a while. For herself, Danny was a shoulder to cry on—like tonight. She had a feeling that he understood, that he cared, and he wanted to fix her problems.

She smiled faintly at that thought. Putting Danny in the role of a hero was almost fitting. He didn't beat the bad guys or foil evil plots like they did in comics, but to Sam, he helped her straighten out her world. He was the one to suggest the building for her store in the first place, and he never put the boys aside when she needed him to look after them. He was aware of her needs, but she realized that she knew next to nothing about him. All she knew was what his parents supplied, and that wasn't much. Maybe she could learn more about him tomorrow.

With that thought in mind, Sam turned off her lamp and went to sleep.

* * *

"Whoa!" Conner gasped when they came upon the arcade.

It wasn't Sam's ideal area to hang out at, but whatever the boys wanted—that was the deal when they left the house this morning. The boys would pick first, then Sam, then Danny. When Conner asked about games, Danny didn't hesitate to suggest the arcade to him. He even had quarters ready, all rolled up in pill bottles in his jean's pocket. He gave a bottle to Conner—each containing eight dollars worth of play time—then let him go as he wished. Alex stuck close to his mother and Danny, not wanting to play at all.

Danny led the two over to a booth in the back where other kids were waiting around, eating or chatting with friends. Sam wiped down the table top before letting Alex sit on the inside and she slid in next to him. Danny sat on the other side, looking off to the side to make sure Conner was in his sight.

"Do you want something?" Danny asked, pointing a thumb over his shoulder to the food counter.

"No, I highly doubt that they'll have something that I'll eat," Sam intoned, looking around at the chilly dogs that were being consumed by the others around them.

"Hey Dan!"

Sam turned to see a chipper looking girl with a red leather jacket on, clashing with her dirty green dreadlocks. Her dress wasn't really appropriate for Alex to look at, but Sam had no worries since he already had his blanket over his head.

"Kitty, what are you doing here?" Danny asked, not looking repulsed at all with the girl's dress.

"Johnny and I are hanging out, you know, getting some air that isn't filled to the brim with griping ghosts," the girl, Kitty, said, sitting on their table, back to Sam.

"So Shadow is around?" Danny said, his eyes narrowing and looking around as if he expected trouble.

"Relax, Shadow's with Johnny. He wouldn't break his promise with you," Kitty put a soothing hand on Danny's arm, making Sam rather ticked off.

"Kitty, personal space here," Danny moved her hand and pushed her off of the table. "And I know he wouldn't, because I would—"

Danny locked eyes with Sam, stopping himself from whatever he was going to say.

"Well, you know," Danny finished lamely, making Sam narrow her eyes in suspicion.

"So, who's your chick?" Kitty asked, looking at Sam with the glowing eyes of the ghost—but ghost or no, she was still rather miffed about how she had been ignored, and how Kitty acted around Danny.

"I'm not anybody's chick," Sam growled out, crossing her arms in anger.

"She's my parents' tenet," Danny explained, seeing the heat of the situation rise. "We're just out for the day, seeing the sites, you know."

"The only sites worth seeing here, with you around sweet cakes, are in the bedroom—if you catch my drift?" Kitty winked at Sam, making the mother's face heat up and look to her son to make sure he hadn't heard anything.

"Hey, G-rated Kit, there are kids around," Danny demanded, looking to get angry himself, but he didn't seem embarrassed like Sam was feeling. "Don't you have a boyfriend to spend the rest of eternity with?"

Kitty pouted, her lips pursed as she leaned a hand on the table and the other on her hip.

"He's nothing like you doll," Kitty purred, but Danny's look made her stop what she was doing.

"Get," Danny cranked his neck towards the door.

Kitty hesitated, taking one last look at same and giving a suggestive smile, before leaving.

"Sorry about that," Danny's look was now mortified as he looked to Alex. "She's normally not like that."

"That's the most love-sick ghost I've seen—and I haven't seen at all," Sam commented, angry with him for having it go on like that. "Why didn't you stop her sooner?"

"Because I don't want trouble with her boyfriend," he said sighing loudly. "See, Kitty and Johnny are ghosts—not very powerful I'll admit—but they can be trouble. Johnny has a symbiotic ghost with him—a bad luck shadow. With that thing, he can cause a lot of havoc—now they're still teens and looking for a good time, but they also bicker like teens and tend to break up every few months before coming here and making up—and normally Amity is caught in the middle of a large fight. I try to keep peace between them, and if Johnny saw me dissing his girl. . ."

He left it hanging for her to finish in her mind. She somewhat understood his actions, but she didn't have to be happy about it.

"You seem to keep a lot of peace here between ghosts and humans," Sam thought out loud.

Danny shrugged, but she could tell that he had become tight in the shoulders with her comment.

"Why is she crushing on you anyway?" Sam said, thinking that _crushing _was putting it mildly.

"That's a long and complicated story that can't be said around kids," he looked to Alex. "But it involves one of their fights and her getting me stuck in a love rectangle—her emotions are tied to a lot of guys."

"Then why have a boyfriend if she can't stay with him?"

"She died with him, she's tied to him for eternity, and deep down, she really does love him. It's a love that no one can understand, and frankly, I don't want to."

Sam had to smile at that since he was smiling at what he said. It was like his smile was contagious, and she couldn't stay made at him when he had it on.

"Uh Mom," Sam looked to see Conner at their table. "I'm all out of quarters."

* * *

It was Alex's pick next, and Sam was a bit surprised at his choice.

"A museum?" she asked in shock.

"Yeah, Danny said it was awesome!" Alex tugged his mother along down the street where the museum rested on the end of the block. "It's got all kinds of cool things in it."

"What kind of cool things?" Conner asked, having been looking forwards towards boredom, but was now curious.

"It's the history of Amity Park," Danny said as they crossed the street. "There are all kinds of things in there that they dug up around town."

They really had a good time; learning about the old gold mine that was abandoned now and all of the weird stories of the mine from the diary of one of the miners. Old myths still hung around about monsters that lived in the woods and part of the Salem Witch Trials that took place right in the old town proper. All of these stories of the supernatural got Sam thinking about purchasing a book about Amity's myths—she was sure that the town's folk would love their past in a book.

"Well, actually, no one's written a book," Danny informed her when she asked him about it.

They were at the board walk at Sam's suggestion. The boys were looking through a scope out at the sea side while she and Danny carried ice cream cones in their hands, waiting for the boys to come back and finish them.

"What?" she asked incredulously. "Why not, there's so much to look through here."

"People don't come here because of the ghosts, or they think the whole town is nuts," Danny answered with a shrug. "No self-respecting author would be caught dead writing a book on Amity Park and its wakos."

Sam pursed her lips in thought.

"Well, I'm not a self-respecting anything," she quipped, a tingle going down her spine since she just reminded herself of her mother. "I can write a book—I always enjoyed writing, and that history degree was supposed to get me somewhere."

"Really? You're really going to do this?" he asked, but he didn't sound disapproving.

"Why not? I've got time, plus I always wanted to do something like this."

"The people will appreciate it," Danny nodded and looked back out at the sea line. "You know, I've got a lot of ghost stories for you book."

"You do?"

"Yeah, crazy things happened around here when I was a kid. Like right here for instance. Ember—bad back then—used her music for mind control. She lured all of the adults out onto a ship, making them think it was a cruise, but it was really a trap. They were put on a ghost ship and put to work as a power source to keep the ship floating. A ghost that sounds like the one the boys ran into that night on the train, teamed up with Ember to get rid of the adults this way."

"Okay, that sounds like something they would put in a cartoon," Sam said, doubting. "So how did they all escape?"

"Well, Tuck and I got all of the kids together and used my parents' inventions to rescue them."

Sam looked up at Danny, eyebrows quirked and mouth pouting in a thin line. There was no way that could be possible. Danny didn't seem like the type of guy to risk life and limb to save his family—then again, he did save her from those goons a while back. Maybe there was more to Danny then she originally thought.

* * *

"So, where to now?" Conner asked, looking drained from everything that they had done that day, but a smile planted on his face that Sam was glad to see.

"I don't know, it's Danny's turn," Sam turned to said person and waited.

"It's a surprise," he took the lead, waving at them to catch up.

He led them up a trail on the side of town. Alex was tired so he was carried by Sam, and Conner was lagging behind so Danny kept him piggy-back as the two adults continued to climb up the hill.

"Is there a point to all of this?" Sam asked, annoyed and frustrated that she had to do this in combat boots with her son in her arms.

"It's worth the climb," Danny said, voice sounding patient as he topped the rise.

Sam followed and gasped at the sight. It overlooked the whole town with a gorgeous view of the sea. With the sun setting, the view was all the more spectacular with the oranges reflecting off of the expansion of water.

"Wow!" Conner whispered, at a loss for words for once in his life.

"Yeah, it never gets old," Danny agreed as he sat down on the grass.

Sam soon followed suit as Conner leapt off of Danny's back and ran up to the side of the cliff. He didn't get far because Danny grabbed him by his shirt collar.

"Whoa hoss," Danny said with a chuckle. "Don't get too far out, that cliff's unstable. Stay up here where it's safe."

"Kay," Conner said as Danny let him go.

The boy walked a few more paces before sitting down at a safe distance from the cliff edge. Alex got out of Sam's arms and followed his brother, sitting beside him on his blanket as if it was a picnic.

"It's perfect Danny," she said, looking at the way her boys were situated.

It was a fun day, she had to admit. The boys had been perfect—there had been no fights, no arguments, and no bickering like there would have been if they were back in L.A.; no this had been perfect. Sam enjoyed herself, so did the boys, but she still knew next to nothing about Danny—other then he seemed to have a hero complex.

The man was a tight-lipped mystery that wouldn't stop pestering her. It was like she was obsessed with finding out more about him—but the only way to get him to open up was to talk about ghosts. That seemed to be something he knew a lot about, and being the son of ghost hunters, he would. There had to be something else he was interested in.

"Just wait until the stars come out," Danny said, looking up at the sky. "It's the perfect night for star gazing, I checked to make sure there was no moon tonight."

"You like stars Danny?" Sam asked, hoping that this was the answer to her wonderings.

"Yeah, always wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up," he chuckled at some memory, looking back down at her.

"So, why didn't you?" she asked.

"I changed, my priorities changed; my life changed really," he seemed deep in thought on the last one, but he perked up and smiled again. "I still enjoy star gazing though, and I love flying at night. There's just something about it that sooths the soul you know? Like meditation, almost."

"Like you're walking on air, like you're dreaming only you're awake?" Sam inquired.

"Yeah, exactly, how did you know?"

Sam looked back to her boys, watching the last rays of the sun sink behind the sea waters.

"Because, that's the way I feel when I see Conner smile or when Alex comes home with something to show me from school—and he's proud of it," she looked back at him, wondering how he was going to take that; he didn't look confused at all, but there was something about his look that made Sam self-conscious. "What? What are you staring at?"

"The most dedicated and loving mother a boy could ever ask for," Danny said, his blue eyes shining truth. "Sam, you're an amazing woman—running your store and raising two boys at the same time. It can't be easy."

"It's not," she said, clearing her throat at the unexpected praise, and she thought she heard pride in his voice as well. "Sometimes I wonder if we're ever going to make it on our own. I have trouble paying your parents' rent sometimes. It makes me wonder if we're ever going to get out of there and find our own place."

She felt Danny put his hand on hers and she looked back up into his face, not noticing she had put it down to hide her forming tears.

"You'll be fine, you all will," he said, something kicked in his voice that made her want to slide closer to him.

She did, and Danny put his arm around her as she leaned into his side. Danny looked up, seeing that the sky was completely be-speckled with stars and called for the boys to come over and join them. They did, Alex in Sam's lap and Conner in Danny's. For the next few hours Danny pointed out all of the constellations and told of the stories that went with them. How mighty heroes put down their foes and how curious fantasy creatures came to be. They all gasped in astonishment when a shooting star flew by, streaking the sky in silver and lighting up the night like a giant flare.

"Make a wish," Danny said quickly. "And don't say it out loud, or it will never come true."

Sam watched as the boys closed their eyes tightly and knowing that they were wishing for some toy or something else easily obtainable at a store. Danny had his eyes shut too and she wondered what he was wishing for; as for herself, she wasn't really sure what to wish for.

_I just want to be happy, _she thought, closing her eyes and thinking and feeling that with all of her heart. _I just want me and my boys to be happy._

Sam opened her eyes quickly when she heard a car motor behind them. She turned to see a large Jeep pull up a few yards away and then someone got out of the driver's side.

"I figured I would find you up here."

Sam gasped and shivered. She hadn't noticed that Danny had gotten up and stared at the stranger with almost glowing eyes.

"Who are you?" he asked, voice threatening.

"I'm Dash Baxter, Sam's husband!"


	7. Chapter 7

_**I think you all waited long enough for the next installment. Happy reading! **_

* * *

Danny shifted his position to keep Sam and the boys behind him. He didn't see the blond man before him as much of a threat. Dash was drunk, Danny could smell it on his breath, and the way Dash was swaying from side-to-side told the hero that he wouldn't be conscious for much longer.

"Dash, you're drunk," Sam said, her voice calm as if she had been through this before.

"So?" Dash slurred as he took a stumbling step closer, "you never cared Sammy."

"Mommy," Alex whispered fearfully behind Sam, clutching to her leg.

The child's voice made Dash look down and smile crookedly at his son.

"Hey buddy, still have that stupid blanket with you?"

Dash made a move to get closer to Alex, but Danny beat him to it. He stepped between the child and the drunk and gave Dash a slight push backward to give the rest of them space; that little push was enough to put Dash on his rear.

"Sam step back. Take the boys," Danny said, watching Dash struggle to get up warily.

Sam took hold of her boys' hands and lead them over to the path where they had come up here and stood, waiting for Danny to join them. Danny looked back up at them then down at Dash, who was starting to pass out.

"Leave him," Sam said, no compassion in her voice, only spite. "He doesn't deserve it Danny."

"We can't leave him out here alone," Danny said, bending down to inspect Dash.

He was still breathing and his pulse was rapid, but that would be normal. Danny didn't think Dash had alcohol poisoning so he wasn't in danger of dying tonight. Danny pilfered the Jeep's keys from Dash's limp hand then proceeded to walk towards the car. He started it up and brought it up closer to make stuffing Dash inside easier. Once that was done, he had Sam and the boy's pile in—it was close quarters true, but it was better than walking at this time of night.

* * *

Danny drove the car down the bouncing trail and got it up to speed on the highway before Sam spoke to him.

"You should have left him," she growled under her breath.

"Why would I leave him Sam?" he asked simply.

"Because he's a jerk and doesn't deserve this kind of kindness from anyone," she was seething, her face turning red, knuckles white from clenching her fists so tight. "How did he find me?"

She sounded distressed that time; she was scared, and Danny didn't blame her. She had confided to him only last night that she was afraid her ex would find her and do something to take the boys away—even though he had no legal rights to obtain his children. That had sent warning flares off in Danny's head last night and tonight only confirmed those fears—Dash was into something illegal and would hurt Sam to get what he wanted.

"Do you have a restraining order on him?" Danny asked.

"Um, kind of—he's not allowed to see the boys—he has no rights," Sam said quietly, it sounded like she was crying.

"So he can go to jail if he doesn't respect this?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, if I say so," Sam sniffed, sounding miserable. "Why?"

"I can take him down to the police station if you want to," he looked at her, wondering what she was thinking, but the lack of lights was making it impossible to see her face behind her dark hair. "If he's in violation of this court order, he can stay at least over night."

"That might be best," Sam nodded. "A night in jail is better than a night on the streets in this death trap."

Danny nodded and proceeded to do as she wanted. After dumping Dash off with the police, Danny drove the Jeep over to Fenton Works to drop Sam and the boys off before he drove the car back over to be impounded. Life was great when you went to school with the police chief.

Danny helped to get the boys into the house, both were tired and dragging their feet, Alex more so then Conner. Sam took Alex straight up to the room to help him get changed and into bed. Conner waited down on the stairs, sitting on the last step while Danny leaned against the banister.

So, Dash Baxter was Sam's ex-husband. Danny remembered Dash—he had been a local, and Danny's personal bully in high school. He never knew what happened to Dash after graduation, and now there were thousands of possibilities that he didn't even want to think about. Dash had been a power hungry thug in school, years of councilors and 'creative outlets' didn't help control Dash's anger and resentment towards anything that looked at him the wrong way. Dash became extremely violent with other players of opposing teams, and then he fought with his own team mates which almost got him kicked off the team, beating up a ref within his life got him kicked off and suspended. It had been his senior year and close to graduation so the school board decided to be rid of him rather than have him another year. Danny also remembered that Dash was a big drinker and partier in school; rumors had been going around about steroids as well, and Danny wouldn't put it behind Dash to do such a thing.

Soft sniffling brought Danny out of his thoughts. He thought it was Sam coming out of the room since her face was tear-stained when they came into the house, but she wasn't even in sight. He looked down to see Conner, wiping away at his tears fiercely as he tried to push them back down.

"Hey, you alright bud?" Danny asked quietly, kneeling down to be on the boy's level.

"I'm fine," Conner spat out, his eyes red and throat moist from his tears.

"It's okay Conner," Danny told him softly. "Crying doesn't make you a lesser anything."

"I'm not crying," the boy chocked on his own words, his shoulders beginning to shake.

Danny got up and walked around to sit beside the boy on the stair tread, putting his hand on Conner's back to comfort him. He expected the boy to shrug it off, but surprisingly, Conner didn't; he was more focused on keeping quiet and to stop crying.

"Were you scared, Conner?" Danny asked. "Were you scared to see your father like that?"

Conner sniffed, a breath catching in the back of his throat as he tried to remain calm.

"Dad came home a lot like that," Conner said quietly, Danny barely hearing him. "Mom was never around; he made sure she wasn't around. He came home angry, he was always angry, and he would throw things, make me clean them up and toss them out. Then he didn't want to throw things; he came home one night and kicked our dog so hard that it died—he made me bury it in the back yard. Then he went after Alex. He hit him a few times, I tried to stop him, but he would push me out of the way. One day, he was really bad, and I grabbed a knife from the kitchen. I stabbed him in the leg, and he stopped beating on Alex—he came after me instead."

Conner rolled up his long sleeve shirt and showed Danny the scars running down his arms. Some were barely visible, but others were painfully white and hard edged. Danny was horrified. He ran a hand over Conner's wounds and shivered, unable to understand how a human being would do such a thing to a child.

"He did this?" Danny asked, eyes wide.

"He made me promise never to tell mom, or else he would kill me. He can, he will kill me. I tried running away, but he caught me and made me promise never to run away again. If I did, he would hunt me down and kill me. That's why I was scared—he came back to kill me, I know it!"

"Shush," Danny wrapped the boy up in a hug, just holding him while the boy cried out his fears uncontrollably into his shirt. "Shush, it's okay. Does your mom know about this?"

Danny felt Conner shake his head roughly against his chest as the boy's body heaved in another sob.

"Why did you try to go back to him Conner? Why did you run away?"

"He—he only does it when he's angry," the boy hiccupped. "I-I-I tried to m-m-make it back so he wouldn't kill me."

"Why take Alex?"

"Because, he said he w-w-would kill Alex too. It-it was both of us or-or nothing."

"Shush," Danny said again, rocking back and forth on the stairs. "Shush, it's okay now. It's okay."

"I'm scared," Conner whispered. "I'm scared, I don't want to see him, I don't want to go with him. Please don't make me go with him!"

"I won't," Danny assured him. "You aren't going anywhere—you or your brother."

"I don't want to go with him," Conner repeated tiredly, his body getting slack in Danny's hold. "I want to stay here; I want to stay with you."

"Shush, get some sleep now. Everything will be better in the morning."

Conner moaned softly as he shifted his body to be more comfortable. Danny ran a hand through Conner's messy hair then wiped away some of the stray tears that rolled down the boy's face. It wasn't long before Conner was sleeping deeply against Danny's side, dead to the world around him. Danny was glad for it, Conner needed his sleep right now.

"How long have you been up there?" he asked the person standing behind him.

Danny turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder at Sam who was above them on the landing. She walked down quietly so as not to disturb Conner and sat down on the step above them.

"Did you know about this?" Danny asked, showing her Conner's still exposed arm.

"I had my suspicions," Sam said, sounding like she was going to cry herself. "I tried to get proof, so I could do something. But it was near impossible with the boys so clammed up—Dash deep rooted fear into their minds at an early age—fear of him and people like him. It makes it hard for them to trust others—especially men."

Danny rolled Conner's sleeve back down and put his free arm under the boy's legs. Sam saw what he was doing and got up to get out of the way. Danny picked Conner up and carried him into the room. Alex was already asleep in one bed, snuggling close to his blanket. Danny put Conner on the free bed and began to take the boy's shoes off. Sam came over and offered a night shirt as Danny took Conner's current shirt off.

Sam gasped loudly and began to babble incoherently when she saw her son's skin. Scars like on his arm were criss-crossed all over his torso and back. Danny froze as well, but he knew that Conner had to be put to bed. He finished while Sam ran out of the room, unable to look at her son anymore. Danny put the night shirt on then tucked Conner in quietly. The boy stirred and muttered something in his sleep, his face scrunched up in discomfort at some dream he was having. Danny put a hand on the boy's head and ran his fingers through Conner's hair again—a play that his own father used on him when he was younger. It comforted Conner's dreams and the boy settled peacefully against his pillow.

"Don't worry, he's not going to hurt you again," Danny promised, his eyes glowing green in his determination before fading back to blue.

Danny closed the door to the boy's room before heading into Sam's, hearing her cries in the hall. He found her sitting on her bed, head in her hands as her shoulders shook with her sobs. She raised her head when she heard Danny at her door, eyes red and mascara running down her face making her look like a cheetah.

"I should of stopped that," she blabbered. "Oh god, what kind of mother am I? I should have stopped that Danny, that never should have happened. Never, not to my baby."

"Shush," he said, sitting beside her on the bed. "The boys need to sleep Sam, and beating yourself up isn't going to help."

"I should have stopped it," she said, quietly, taking a shuddering breath in order to calm herself.

"We can take care of it now," Danny said firmly. "Dash is in jail, and we can make sure he stays there."

"No, he'll just get out again," Sam sniffed, running a hand over her face. "Dash has lawyers, damn good ones, who can get him out of anything. Besides, in order for him to be put away, the boys would have to talk, and they're too scared to."

Danny ground his teeth in anger of the truth. The boys wouldn't talk, which meant Dash walked away scot free after a drunken joy ride through town. Good thing Chief was going to escort him to the city limits first thing in the morning.

"We can get a restraining order on him," Danny said, making Sam look at him oddly. "What?"

"Since when did it become 'we' Danny?" she asked quietly.

"Since now," he said just as quietly. "I'm not going to leave you Sam, you or the boys."

Danny's hand came up to wipe away the tears on her cheeks. They stayed there after their job was done. He put his hand under her jaw line to make her look up at him. Sam didn't fight it, but he was expecting a slap pretty soon. He inched closer, his head telling him no but his heart telling him yes so much louder. He kissed her lightly, but soon found it intoxicating. Sam kissed him back, apparently she found him just as appealing because she kissed back hard and fierce.

To bad Danny's nerves got the better of him.

The bed fell out from under them and they met a hard and painful landing with the floor.

"What the. . . " Sam rubbed her aching head looking up at the dirty springs of the bed. "How did we end up down here?"

"Don't know," Danny said quickly, angry that the mood was ruined and embarrassed at such a lack of control—he hadn't done that since he was fourteen! "Um, we should roll out of here."

He did just that, trying to keep Sam occupied so she wouldn't ask questions.

"Listen," he said as Sam came out from under the bed, "are you going to be okay tonight? My parents aren't home right now, and I don't feel comfortable just leaving you."

"We'll be fine," Sam said, but a little distractedly as she glared at the bed. "Just set the alarm and lock the doors, we should be fine since the system attacks anything that walks through the door."

"Yeah, okay," he said, rubbing the back of his neck in his uncertainty, a movement that Sam caught and looked at as if she wanted to screw him to the wall. "I'll, be back in the morning. Sleep tight."

"Night Danny," Sam said, watching him go.

She sat on the bed, bouncing a few times and hearing the springs squeak with protest, and very solidly. Giving up and telling herself it was way to late at night to start this, she got up and got ready for bed.

* * *

Danny drove the car to the impound lot where the police took it over from there. Once he was out of sight from them, he transformed into Phantom and took to the skies, planning on an early patrol, but the troubling ending to such a perfect day was bugging him. He wanted to go down to the police station right now and give Dash a few choice beatings, but he wouldn't do that. Integrity barred him from doing such an action—and the new up-to-date ghost detection systems in the station did so as well.

Dash's best bet was to never show up in Amity Park again, or he might leave without a face.

On a spur-of-the-moment thought, he changed course and flew over to Tucker's apartment. His friend was still up, typing away at his computer as Danny had figured.

"What's up dude?" Tucker asked him as soon as he phased through the wall, not bothering to look over his shoulder.

"How do you do that?" Danny asked him as he approached.

"You just develop this feeling after being around you for too long," Tucker shrugged. "But what are you doing here? I thought you were hanging out with Sam and the boys."

"I was, but something happened. Her ex showed up."

"Oh, tough break man. So did she go home with him? Did the boys just jump into his car and forget all about you?"

"What? No! Sam's ex is Dash Baxter."

Tucker's jaw dropped to the floor. He turned around in his seat to look at his best friend in the eye.

"Dash Baxter?" Tucker asked and Danny nodded. "_The_ Dash Baxter? The same Dash Baxter that made Swirly-Fenton-Fridays and Locker-Impound-Foley-Mondays a social event on the Casper High calendar? _That _Dash Baxter?"

"Say the name one more time and I'll have to do something to you," Danny growled out, eyes glowing fiercely in his irritation. "Yes! That's the guy. I couldn't believe it either, but he was so drunk that he didn't recognize me."

"Dude, no one would recognize you."

Tucker was right. That scrawny teen in high school had grown up to be a large fit man over the years. It was doubtful that one of Danny's protagonists would recognize him now, but Dash always seemed to know where he was hiding in high school when it was Friday. Danny shoved the thought away and focused on the present problem.

"Tuck, think you can dig up some background info on him? Stuff we can use against him legally if he tried to get near Sam and the boys again?" he asked his friend.

"On it," Tucker said and made a note on his PDA about it. "So, besides Dash showing up, how did the day go?"

"Pretty much perfect," settled into a chair and smiled at the thought of what they did that day. "We went all over town, doing whatever you know? The boys were actually really well behaved and picked good places to go. I don't think I had that much fun in a long time."

"You haven't been on a date since Valerie," Tucker said shaking his head at the dreamy look his friend was showing.

"It wasn't a date," Danny protested.

"Yes it was! Face it, you like her, and those boys."

Danny stayed silent, but at the thought of the boys again with Sam that day, a smile lit up his face that Tucker hadn't seen before.

"Whoa, okay, you're falling hard for her dude. It's a miracle you haven't kissed her yet."

Danny's smile widened.

"You _did _kiss her! Oh man, your dad owes me thirty bucks!"

"What was that?"

"Never mind. So, is she a good kisser?"

"I don't kiss and tell," Danny said, reddening at the memory of what had happened with the bed.

"What did you do?" Tucker asked at seeing him blush.

"None of your business," Danny got up to leave. "Phone me when you have the details."

"Will do!"

* * *

Danny left and found himself heading straight back to Fenton Works. He phased through the boys' room and found them sound asleep. Sam was up reading in bed so he snuck invisibly through the wall. It was a few seconds before Sam put down the book and looked up near the door and frowned.

"Danny?" she asked quietly and the man in question froze at the sound of his name.

Maybe Tucker was right about developing that feeling?

Sam got out of bed and opened the door to her room. Danny followed from a distance and watched as she went downstairs and turned all of the lights on, checking to see if someone was still here. She checked the security system and then shrugged after finding nothing wrong. She turned the lights out and went back up to bed. Danny had been watching from the top step and followed her movements, noticing she didn't edge towards the lab door. He was going to make sure that she got back to bed and then leave, but it didn't really happen that way.

Danny had forgotten that he was invisible and that people couldn't see where his feet were. When Sam reached the top of the stairs, she fell over his invisible foot, and being that there wasn't a light on in the hall, she guessed that someone had been hiding in the dark. Her hand worked faster than Danny could catch. She rammed the heal of her palm into his nose and then slammed it into his gut, making him lean his head back with a broken nose and bend over double in the agony of a bruised gut. With the surprise attack, Danny lost hold on his invisibility and tried to keep his groaning quiet, not wanting to wake the boys.

"Oh dear," Sam said, stooping down to his shoulders and grabbed them to help him up. "Are you alright?"

"You got a mean left hook," he moaned with a weak smile and rubbed his middle.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him, now looking skeptical.

"Uh," Danny scrambled for an excuse. "Um, Danny, sent me over?"

Sam raised an eyebrow at how that sounded.

"He sent you?" she asked, not believing a word of it.

"Yeah, um, we're pretty tight and he just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Sam glared at him for a moment before raising her hands in defeat.

"It's like asking Conner if he did his homework," she grumbled. "Look, I don't care who sent you over, you need to leave."

"Uh, sure," he floated up and hovered near the ceiling. "You sure you don't want me to stick around?"

"I'm sure, I can handle myself."

"Yeah, I know," he rubbed his sore nose, but it was already healing. "Well, see ya."

The ghost phased through the ceiling, leaving Sam alone in the hall. She just shook her head and went back to bed, wondering how the alarm system didn't go off when he came into the house. Maybe the Fentons had programmed the defenses to neglect Phantom. Still, why not go off with Phantom, but go off if the mailman came around? And why was Phantom lying? She could spot a liar easily because of the years of being a mother and Phantom was definitely hiding something. So was Danny now that she thought about it. When they had somehow ended up under the bed, she had been too confused to see his reaction, but now that she thought back on it, Danny had been acting very dodgy, changing the subject as soon as it had happened.

Something was going on and she was determined to find out what it was.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Kind of a filler chapie at first, but then i decided to leave it on a strange, yet intriging note. **_

* * *

Conner woke up to something pushing him over in bed. He struggled to open his eyes as whining and some sort of loud roaring shook the house. It was Alex who was whimpering.

"What is that?" the younger asked, already having his blanket thrown over his head.

"It's snoring," Conner deadpanned. "Dad use to snore all of the time remember?"

"But Mom doesn't snore, at least not this loudly."

Conner listened closely to the snores and realized that Alex was right: someone else was in the house.

"Come on," Conner threw off his blankets and quickly got to his feet.

"Um, I'll just be hiding under my bed," Alex said as he started to dive for the dusty depths.

"Come on you baby."

Conner pulled Alex out by his top and dragged the reluctant boy to the top of the stairs. There they crouched in the dark, listening to the throaty snores just below them.

"I think it's coming from the den," Alex said, pointing down the stairs. "Maybe we should get Mommy."

"No, not yet. It might be Mr. Fenton just never made it up to bed, again," Conner guessed, but he knew it wasn't true.

Alex nodded though and followed his big brother quietly down the stairs. They turned into the den when they hit the bottom and found the kitchen light was on. It cast some light into the den and Conner saw Danny, sprawled out on the couch and looking quite beat up.

"I wonder what happened to him," Conner asked himself while Alex only blinked at the man.

* * *

"Why can't you meat heads just leave me alone?"

"Leaving a level eight ectoplasmic entity with known violent tendencies to be free? Unacceptable!"

Danny ducked as the agents fired at him again, just skimming the top of his hair. He touched it to make sure it wasn't on fire—again—and then turned tail and ran. The Guys in White might have been total morons, but their weapons did all of the aiming and firing for them. Another blast was sent his way and he just barely avoided it, but the billboard advertising his face didn't.

"For once, I'm glad that eyesore was there," Danny mumbled to himself as he turned his eyes back to the front.

He gasped and dived down just as a pink ray was fired at him from the front. The ray missed him but went further and hit the agents. The men themselves weren't harmed, but their jet packs were fried and dismantled themselves from the fried circuits. They screamed as they fell back down to earth, but luckily, some roofs were not far below them and they landed without much harm.

"Thanks for the save Val," Danny smirked at the huntress, but Valerie wasn't talking.

"Um, you aren't still mad about the Fourth of July thing are you?" he asked when there was no forthcoming answer and a new shiny gun was shoved into his face.

The charging up of the weapon was sound enough, "Yeah, you're still mad."

Danny went intangible just before she fired, then he turned tail and ran, again. Valarie seemed to be in a pissed-off mood tonight. She didn't speak or spit curses at him as she pushed her board to its limits and raced after him, blasting with more careful aim then before. Danny was singed a couple of times, but none of the shots hit their target full on.

Then his ghost sense went off.

"Oh perfect!" Danny whined, looking around in the skies for whomever it was this time while pushing on speed to get rid of Valerie.

A blast from above caught him off guard and he plummeted down to earth, landing in a construction zone. He groaned as he pulled himself out of the new tar that had been laid down that morning and pushed an orange cone that was blocking his view. He wished he hadn't moved it as he saw Skulker standing there, giant gun warmed up for another blast.

"Like the new gun whelp?" Skulker asked, sticking it in Danny's face making the man straighten and back up a few inches.

"Well, I'm not ecstatic, but it is nice. . . and deadly," Danny said, frowning worriedly down the barrel as it began to light up again.

A pink blast from above made Danny jump out of the way just as Skulker fired. He did not get out of the line of fire unsigned, but alive was good enough at the moment.

"Hey! This is my hunt!" Skulker shouted at the Huntress, taking his new gun and firing at Valerie.

Danny saw that his two enemies were distracted and hoped he could just sneak out of there, but Valerie had other ideas. She caught him running away from the skies and fired a net, making it wrap around his legs and making him trip, burying his chin in the cement and cracking a few teeth as he came down.

Danny struggled to get the net off of him, but Skulker saw that his prey was trapped and that now would be a perfect time to shoot him.

"Well, this just isn't my night," Danny grumbled. "First I ruin the perfect moment with the perfect women, only to find out she only seems to tolerate Phantom and now I'm about to be shot and then skinned. Why can't the universe by on my side for once?"

Well, the fates must have heard his plea, because Valerie shot at Skulker to keep him away from her prey. The shot hit Skulker in the shoulder just as he fired the gun, making him loose his aim and shoot the net instead. The trap disintegrated, but so did part of Danny's suit and burn his skin.

"Well, I'll take it," he winced as he morphed his injured legs into his tail to fly out of there.

He made it into the sky while Skulker was still firing at him.

"Get back here whelp!"

"Not on your after-life," Danny muttered darkly as he saw the cement truck in sight, still turning slightly for tomorrow's new batch.

Danny zoomed towards it and flew inside. Skulker followed, but when the hunter managed to get his large bulk into the small opening, he could not see his prey anywhere.

"Where are you Phantom?" he muttered to himself, bracing his gun up.

Danny smirked as he found the speed control on the truck from the outside. After luring Skulker in, he phased back out and came to the head of the truck.

"How about we put a little spin on things?" he asked himself as he turned the dial up for maximum speed.

The whole truck started to shake as the back was turning crazily, sickening thuds coming from within as Skulker was bounced around like a feather in the wind, shouting out curses and cries for help while doing so. Danny only chuckled as he heard his enemy start to scream like a little girl, but his mirth was cut short when a blast singed the top of the truck.

"Oh yeah, the crazy vengeful huntress," Danny grumbled as he went intangible and slid through the ground.

He came back up in an alley way behind Valerie and turned human. He watched Valerie in the sky as she surveyed the area for a few minutes and then took off in a different direction. Danny sighed and groaned as all of his wounds caught up with him. It would not be smart to go ghost and fly home, all of the way on the other side of town. His parent's house was closer and he still had his key.

Taking a deep breath to stave off the yelps of pain, Danny limped the six blocks to FentonWorks. Upon arrival, he took his key, let himself in, locked it again and fell on the couch were he reluctantly fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

Danny jerked awake, feeling something tug at his shoulder. He moaned, his body still aching from the battle and rubbing his eyes with tired fingers. He looked to the side to see the boys up, Conner having been the one that woke him up.

"What's wrong guys?" he asked them, voice husky from having just woken up.

"You were snoring loud," Alex said, pulling his blanket over his face and muffling his words.

"Yeah, you freaked me out," Conner said as he looked Danny over but his eyes froze on something and his mouth started to move but no words came out.

A sudden burning pain flared up Danny's side, making him wince and hold down on the wound with both hands. He looked down and saw that blood was pooling between his fingers and had already stained some of the couch. What did Skulker have in that new gun?

"Get out of here," he motioned weakly to the boys. "Get your mother."

Later, he would ask himself why he said that, but right now he needed help.

A moment later, he could hear Sam asking Alex questions as he babbled on about blood and Sam was still rubbing sleep from her eyes. When she saw the condition Danny was in, she froze for a second and gaped at him. When he moaned as he tried to shift his position on the couch, she snapped out of it and quickly got down to business.

"Conner, go get the first aid kit out of the hall closet," she said as if she was a doctor in a major hospital. "Alex, get the phone and call the hospital."

"No!" Danny shouted, startling all three of them. "No hospital," he said a bit more softly.

"Danny, you're bleeding everywhere, and you look burned," Sam argued with him, giving him a glare. "You are going to the ER."

"No, I can't," Danny argued back, on the verge of passing out. "Jar, in the fridge. Get it."

"What does it look like?" Alex asked before Sam could impute again.

"Small, green, be in the safe," Danny got out between clenched teeth. "On the inside of the right wall."

Alex looked confused, but did as he was told. Conner came back a minute later with the first aid kit then went into the kitchen to help his brother while his mom bandaged up a struggling Danny.

"What are you doing?" Conner asked his brother as he came in to see Alex tapping on the side of the fridge as if looking for a hidden door.

"Danny said that the jar was on the inside of the right wall," Alex said, pulling his head out of the fridge. "But I can't find it."

"Of course not," Conner rolled his eyes to the heavens. "You should be calling the hospital like Mom said. Danny's kind of delirious right now."

Alex only frowned and started to search again on the wall as Conner continued talking.

"I mean, who would be crazy enough to put a hidden door inside a fridge?" Conner asked, chuckling a bit.

Alex frowned and slapped the side of the fridge hard in his anger. Then he felt the wall depress under his hand and slide away, he pulled his hand back in shock and looked at the hidden compartment with the small green vial and needle in place.

"Hah!" Alex said as he pulled them out and ran the contents back to his mother in the den, rushing past his gapping brother. "I got it!"

Danny opened his eyes to see that Alex came back with the vial. Sam looked wide eyed at the now glow contents since it didn't show up in the glow of the open fridge and no lights were on besides the street light coming through the window.

"What is this?" Sam asked, skeptical at the glowing vial and large needle. "Some sort of weird drug?"

"No," Danny said weakly, pulling at the bandages Sam and tried to put on him, but he had refused to take his shirt off for some reason. "Inject me with it."

"What!" Sam nearly screeched, wide eyed at him. "You're crazy, this stuff looks radioactive."

"Do it," Danny gritted his reply out harshly. "Do it or I will do it myself!"

Sam nearly dropped the vial, swearing she saw his eyes flash just as green as Phantom's. Reluctantly, she did as was asked of her. Danny looked like he was getting worse by the minute and if he was sure this vial would help, than she had to trust him. She stuck the needle in the rubber top, drew out a glowing green liquid, than stuck the needle in Danny's shoulder. He yelped at the pain, but after Sam had injected the stuff into his system and took the needle back, he became so limp that it looked like he was going to melt off of the furniture.

"Danny?" Sam shook his shoulder to get a response.

None, he was out cold again.

"Boy's go back to bed," she told them as Conner came back into the room.

"But, what about you and Danny?" Conner asked.

"I'll stay up with him, you two go back to bed," Sam said more firmly and in a tone that was not to be argued with.

The boys went back upstairs, though reluctantly.

"Do you think Danny will be okay?" Alex asked his older brother as they got back into bed.

"I don't know," Conner said as his head hit the pillow. "Don't worry, Mom will take care of him."

Conner had closed his eyes so he didn't see the red figure racing through the sky outside the window, but Alex did.

"It's not Mom I'm worried about," he said and reluctantly went to sleep as well.


	9. Chapter 9

**_Yes, I do live! But I don't have much to say. sorry. _**

* * *

Tucker sighed, an angry Sam before him and an unconscious Danny on the couch.

It was late at night, or early morning depending on your view of time, and Sam had called Tucker about an hour ago to help her with Danny. Tucker wasted no time in driving over to the Fenton's, but it seemed he would not go without giving up a few secrets first.

"What makes you think I know what happened?" Tucker asked crankily as he rubbed at his eyes. "You woke me up remember?"

"Please," Sam rolled her eyes. "He's been doing this for a long time hasn't he? I've seen what he can do. What does he do at night? Run around looking for trouble to beat the crap out of?"

"Why do you care?" Tucker saw this as none of her business.

"I do care if he is going to be around my boys," Sam shoved a finger at Tucker's chest. "You're his best friend, he tells you everything."

"And that is why he trusts me to keep what he tells me confidential," Tucker argued back, slapping her offending finger out of the way. "If you want to know what Danny does, then you ask him."

"But he won't tell me anything."

"Then that's your problem isn't it?"

The two glared at each other until a soft groan knocked them out of their own argument.

"Dude," Tucker said at seeing Danny sit up on the couch. "Take it easy man."

Danny only sighed heavily and ran a hand over his bandaged side. The burning was gone and he could feel the skin already starting to flow over and patch him up. He was incredibly thirsty and his head hurt, but with the fight and all of the blasting and falling, it didn't surprise him.

"Hope I didn't scare anybody," Danny said a bit sheepishly as he moved his hand to rub behind his neck.

"That is the least of your concerns right now," Sam snapped at him, but quietly. "How did you get like this? And what was in that jar?"

Danny glanced at Tucker who was giving the kill motion to him behind Sam's back. Danny knew he was in big trouble here, and he couldn't think of a good lie. He was surprised to find out that he didn't want to lie to Sam, but he couldn't tell her the truth either. Still, a lie to Sam was like shoving tin-foil in his mouth, painful and unwanted.

"Tucker, you can go," Danny said, sitting up straighter and swinging his legs over the side of the couch to sit properly. "I think Sam and I need to talk privately."

Tucker gave his friend an uncertain look, but did as he said and left with one more frightened glance at Danny before he shut the door.

"What is with you?" Sam nearly exploded in a stage whisper to him once Tucker was absent. "You scared my boys half to death. You scared me. What happened, did Dash come after you?"

_Oh I wish, _Danny thought, knowing he wouldn't have wounds like this if he had fought that idiot, even without his powers.

"No, I dropped Dash off at the police station remember?" Danny said. "This was something else."

"Something else what? A ghost?"

Danny said nothing as he looked at her. He couldn't answer because he would have to lie, and he couldn't do that, no matter how hard he was pushing himself to do so.

Sam waited, her arms crossed and a scowl on her face, but as Danny remained quiet, she threw her hands up in surrender and sat down adjacent from the man. It was quiet for a while as the two looked at the floor and at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking. Finally, Danny stood up, all pain gone from his side, and made his way to the kitchen.

"I hope I didn't scare the boys too bad," Danny said quietly as Sam stayed seated where she was, seeming unconcerned by how Danny was on his feet.

Danny sighed when she didn't answer and prepared a glass of water for himself to be rid of his dry throat. As the tap turned on, he heard Sam get up from the chair in the living room to come into the kitchen to join him, but she kept her distance.

"Are you in trouble?" she asked quietly.

Danny was about to speak but Sam broke him off.

"And don't you dare lie to me," she nearly hissed. "I went through the same thing with Dash, and I'm not about to repeat that mistake."

Oh boy, he was treading on _very _thin ice here. He turned off of the water and took a drink before turning around to face her for his answer.

"I can't answer that without giving away things that shouldn't be given away freely," he told her truthfully. "Trust me when I say I'm not in trouble with anything illegal, but it is dangerous."

Sam just stood there in the entryway, her expression not changing at all.

"Things happen Sam," he said to break the silence and hopefully get her to understand his position. "When you're involved with the paranormal, all sorts of things happen, things you don't expect. You've seen it happen before, I know you have."

Danny set the glass to the side and looked at Sam again. Her expression was calculating, but she was listening.

"I can't tell you what's going on, but it has nothing to do with you or the boys. It's been happening for a long time, and my family knows about it, and Tucker too, so don't go asking them because they aren't going to tell you."

"Will you tell me, one day?" Sam asked, but there was something behind her tone that Danny didn't like, almost like a warning growl from an angry lion.

"Maybe, it depends."

"On what?"

"If you, stick around, if you can handle it. I probably won't tell you because I don't want you pulled into it, especially the boys. I can't condemn you life Sam."

"And what if I want to know, what if I want to help?"

Danny looked up at her, slightly surprised.

"Maybe not even then," Danny shook his head. "Like I said, it's not just you I have to think about with you. I also have to think of your own family, your sons. You three come together, a packaged deal, and I can't do that you three. It would be cruel of me."

"So what you're saying is you just want me and not the boys?"

"No! I'm not saying that at all. It's just, things are not what they appear Sam, and I don't want you all hurt."

He was hurting her now just by talking to her; he could read it on her face.

No, he was going to hurt her, no matter what happened. Everyone involved with Phantom got singed eventually, intentional or not. He couldn't do that to Sam, or Conner, or Alex. They all deserved to be free of him. He would just hurt them all if he stuck around. He would always be there for Sam, but he couldn't be _with _her.

That realization hurt his heart so badly he wanted to cry. He loved her, he knew he did. He loved her and the boys. Today had been great, and he wanted to have many more days like them (minus Dash of course) but if he wanted to keep them safe, then he had to stay away.

"This was a bad idea," Danny sighed to himself, running a hand through his hair.

"What was?" Sam asked, obviously confused by his sentence.

"Us," he gestured loosely to them both. "Sam, this was a bad idea. I knew it deep down, but after today. . . I just can't put you through that again. You have your own problems to deal with, I can't add mine to your burden."

"What? What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that. . . that I can't see you anymore."

* * *

Sam stood there, shocked, with tears in her eyes, as Danny shut the front door to the house, not even looking back at her. Slowly, she sank down on the couch and sobbed silently. It felt like her world had ended when Danny had said he had to stay away, and she didn't even know why. He had said he would still be around when she needed him, but they couldn't see each other, that he had to detach himself from them.

At first, Sam had been angry, thinking that he didn't want to handle the responsibility of the boys, but she knew that wasn't true. He wouldn't voluntarily spend so much time with the boys if that was true. Sam saw that he was sad to do this, but determined. But she didn't understand! Why couldn't he just talk to her? Why couldn't he just tell her what was going on?

* * *

Morning rolled around sooner then she thought possible. She was cooking for the boys when they came down that morning. They were surprised to find the couch empty and their mom in the kitchen.

"Where's Danny?" Conner asked as he took a seat at the table.

"He went home," Sam said quickly, rubbing at her sore eyes.

"Why are you cooking?" Alex asked. "Danny always makes breakfast."

Sam winced at the sound of her youngest. Danny had been cooking the boys' breakfast since he had seen her cooking, which was not the best she had to admit. He was a good cook and the boys adored him and his dishes, and Sam had to admit he whipped up a mean soy patty.

"Danny isn't going to be around much anymore," Sam said as she turned around to lay the burned eggs in front of the boys. "He's going to be… busy for a while."

Conner and Alex looked at each other in question before looking back up at her.

"Well, when will he be back?" Alex asked.

"I don't know sweety," Sam said truthfully. "He may not be back often."

Conner frowned, knowing when his mother was sad and upset. Her running mascara and puffy eyes were proof that she had been crying. There was something else going on, he knew it. Alex just stared sadly into his food. He pushed his plate away and walked out of the room, saying he wasn't hungry. Sam let him go. Conner watched Alex leave the kitchen before he took a bite of the eggs, thinking he should stay and get more information out of his mom. He cringed at the taste of the eggs, laying his fork down before speaking.

"So, he was fine when he left?" Conner asked.

"Uh, yeah, he looked fine," Sam said distractedly.

"Mom, what's wrong? And don't tell me I won't understand."

Sam looked at him for a moment before sadly sighing and sitting down.

"Danny thinks that he shouldn't see me anymore," she told him. "And I think he might be right."

What? Not see them anymore? What was that suppose to mean? Conner shoved the table out of his way angrily and walked away, stopping only once to say: "You're lying; you don't think he's right."

His mother's soft sobbing was the only answer.

* * *

Conner went into the den, grabbed the phone off of the hook, and went into the broom closet. The closet was really used to store spare ghost weapons that he and Alex were not allowed to touch, but it was the perfect place for privacy.

He punched in Danny's number fiercely and waited at the other line rang continuously. It was some time before Danny picked up and answered the phone with a tired 'hello'.

"What's the big idea you jerk?" Conner yelled into the phone. "What gave you the idea that you could just string up my mom like that?"

"Conner—"

"I mean, I can understand if you don't want to be around us because of what happened last night, but come on man! I thought you were better than that!"

"Conner—"

"I told you some deep stuff last night; stuff I never told anyone. How can you betray us like this? Please, don't make this about me. Don't leave my mom because of me."

"Conner, listen to me please."

Danny's voice was strong and controlled. It made Conner silent, not able to say anything to a voice that had authority but wasn't going to yell at him either.

"Conner, this is not about you," Danny said very clearly. "It was never about you Conner, and I understand what happened last night. I am not abandoning you, I would never do that to you, or your mother or brother."

"Then why did you leave? Why is Mom in tears because of you?"

Conner could feel his own throat get thick as the silence on the other line stretched for a little bit before Danny spoke.

"There are things that I do Conner, things I don't want you or your family wrapped up in," Danny said, sadly it sounded like. "The easiest way of keeping you all safe is to stay clear of you, so certain people do not make connections, and you won't get hurt as easily this way. I know what I'm doing is hurting you, but it must be done. Worse things could happen if I stick around."

"But we want you around!" Conner nearly screamed at him, why couldn't Danny get that through his thick skull! "Who will cook us breakfast in the morning? Who will help me with my homework? Who will take us places and drone on for hours about it?"

"Your mother can do all of those things," Danny said. "And I'm always a phone call away if you need help with something."

"But we want you here; _I _want you here!"

"Conner, calm down. Do you want your mother to hear you?"

"Please," Conner begged quietly, tears slipping from his eyes. "I never had a real father before."

It was quiet for a long time other then Conner trying to sniffle quietly and keep his tears at bay. Finally, a crackled sign came from the other line.

"I'm not your father Conner—"

"But you could be—"

"Conner, you must accept this. I will always be your friend, but. . . I know this is hard, it is for me too, but I can' t be any closer to you guys then that: just a friend."

Conner fisted the phone in his hand tightly, his knuckles turning white as he started to cry.

"Conner? Conner are you still there?"

"Go to hell!"

Conner hung up the phone, throwing it into the wall with a scream before he buried his face in his knees and sobbed, feeling like someone had ripped a piece of his heart out that he could never get back.

* * *

It had been a few days since Danny had been at the house. Both Sam and Conner had gone into a stony silence; Sam in depression and Conner seemed to be in a different place. Maddie and Jack watched them with worry and concern, understanding their son's reason for keeping away, but if only he could see the damage he was doing, they knew he would change his mind in an instant.

Alex was particularly quiet most of the time, dragging his blanket around in the dirt, not even using it half of the time like he use to. He even forgot it at the park one day and Sam had to go back for it when she realized he misplaced it. When she brought it back and handed it to him, he only shrugged, grabbed it, and went into his room to sulk.

"Danny," Maddie was on the phone with him, out of hearing distance from Sam who was staring into a cup of coffee at the kitchen table. "sweety, you need to come around. All three of them are pretty upset."

"Mom, Sam won't want me around, not after that night," Danny sounded pretty depressed himself. "It would be better to keep my distance."

"Daniel Fenton, you cannot ignore this."

"And I'm not, I'm painfully aware of it all of the time."

His heavy sigh reached Maddie's ear clearly.

"Do what you think is best dear, but whatever it is, do it soon."

Maddie hung up then, angry with her son for leaving without so much as an explanation to the poor woman.

"Maddie," Sam said, startling Maddie as she had not heard the other woman get up from her chair to stand beside her. "Maddie why did he leave? He said he didn't want to see me anymore."

Maddie reached her around Sam's shoulders and sat her down on the couch, herself following.

"He's doing this to protect you hun," Maddie tried to explain. "It's Danny's secret, so I can't say anything, but try to believe me when I say he is trying his best to make this as painless as possible."

"This is painless?"

"I know, it's never easy, but he thinks this is best."

Sam suddenly got angry and slapped her hand on the couch arm.

"What the hell does he know!" she shouted. "How can he know this is what's best for us?"

"Sam, please, the boys are asleep," Maddie reminded her, looking up the stairs to make sure that was still true.

"I just don't understand," Sam sighed. "What did I do wrong?"

Maddie pulled Sam closer to her as Sam started to cry again.

* * *

Danny's heart felt heavy as he flew around the sky, doing a normal patrol. He had been feeling like this since he had told Sam he couldn't see her anymore, and keeping his distance was the best way to keep them all out of the involvement of Phantom. Still, that didn't meant it would be painless.

He missed getting to the house early to make the boys breakfast, seeing Sam's face when she saw the bacon cooking on the stove along with her veggie meal (in a separate pan of course). He missed helping find Alex's blanket when he lost it on their trips out of the house. He missed the long nights of telling ghost stories with the boys and long discussions on the couch with Sam. He missed them all terribly, but it was the right thing to do, to let them go. . . right?

A flash of bright blue caught his eye quickly. He looked down and saw someone on the op's center. As he flew closer to inspect this, he saw it was Alex, waving his blanket around like a beacon and staring very deliberately at him. Curious, Danny flew closer until he was on an eyelevel with Alex; the smaller looking at him from the safety rail of the op's center and Danny floating just out of reach.

"Did you need something?" Danny asked him.

"Why did you leave?" Alex asked quietly, letting his blanket drop from his hand.

Danny only blinked at him.

"I never left, I bet you saw me on the news the other night," Danny tried to clear up the young child's confusion, but Alex only shook his head.

"Mommy's very sad, and Conner doesn't talk anymore," Alex said, sounding very sad indeed. "No one is happy anymore."

"Um, I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about," Danny shrugged, trying to sound innocent, but lying to Alex was like lying to Sam: undoable.

"Danny, why did you leave us?" Alex started to cry. "Were we not good enough? We weren't good enough for my first daddy."

That broke Danny's heart in two. He took his glove off and wiped Alex's tears with his hand before speaking.

"You guys are perfect the way you are," Danny said truthfully, dropping his act since he knew Alex knew, somehow he knew. "It's me that I'm worried about. You know I fight ghosts, and I have many enemies, and you guys might get hurt because of that. I don't want to hurt you guys."

"But you're hurting us now!" Alex sobbed. "We miss you. Please, please come back."

Danny sighed, putting his glove back on.

"Alex, this, me not being around, that's something you can heal from. One of you getting hurt, even dying, that I can't accept," Danny tried to explain. "Please, try to understand that. I can't hurt you guys, I don't want that to happen. It could be accidental even."

"But you won't hurt us, you never would," Alex argued.

"I would never hurt you deliberately," Danny said back calmly. "But it could still happen Alex. I couldn't live with myself if I saw any of you hurt. That's how special you are to me."

Thunder rumbled in the distance and the sharp clap of lightening was visible to Danny as Alex turned around to see it as well.

"You had better go inside before the storm comes," Danny warned him.

Alex didn't say anything as Danny started to leave.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Yes I live. For those of you who don't know, my computer crashed and everything with it was erased. So I've had to rebuild all of my plans from memory and it has taken a long time. I do have good news though: only two more chapters and this story is done, but wait . . . there will be a sequel (title yet to be determined)! I want to finish some other things first, and with me being sick right now, I have plenty of time to do just that. See you guys later, Fay!**_

* * *

The blinding light came out of nowhere. As Danny turned to leave Fenton Works, the pink beam came at him faster than he could track with his eyes. He screamed as it seemed to tear through his torso and drag him down to earth. The impact was loud and painful, his back was screaming in pain as if a giant block of cement had embedded itself in his spine. His head was pounding, making his hearing useless and his vision fuzzy. He groaned, trying to move, but another blast rendered him unconscious with another scream.

Alex gasped as he saw the pink beam go straight for Danny. He tried to warn the ghost but he was too late. Danny landed hard in the street with a scream. Alex watched as the Red Huntress came out of the clouds, the lightening shaking the house as he spotted her. His fear for Danny became overwhelming. The Red Huntress shot again when Danny twitched in the hole. Alex jumped on her after the second shot.

"Leave him alone!" he yelled at her, kicking her back as he held onto her neck.

The Red Huntress yelped in surprise and started to fight to get Alex off of her back. Her board spun in the air wildly as her feet moved to get balance as Alex punched and kicked her, throwing her balance off. Huntress bent her back, hoping it would throw the boy off since they were close enough to the ground where it wouldn't cause a lot of damage to his body, but Alex had a strong grip. Huntress ended up flying off of her board with Alex still gripping hard to her neck.

She landed face first into the street with Alex on her back for a cushion. He rolled off of her with the impact though and landed roughly next to her. The board landed a few feet beyond their reach and Danny was starting to get his wits back as he slowly rose from the crater.

Alex started to get up to get to Danny, but Huntress grabbed the back of his shirt and lifted him off of the ground.

"Let go of me!" he demanded, trying to kick her again, but she kept him at arm's length and that was more than enough to keep her ribs away from his short legs.

Danny slowly came to his senses as he crawled out of the hole in the asphalt. He heard someone scream and he looked up to see a red blot hold up a much smaller blue blot. As he concentrated, he made the images out to be Huntress and Alex. He gasped in alarm and shot to his feet, weariness forgotten.

"Valerie, put the kid down," he said slowly, but with warning as he charged up one of his hands.

"This one means something to you Phantom?" Huntress asked, taking a gun and charging it . . . right at Alex's head.

Danny gasped in surprise. Valerie had taken this too far, aiming a gun at a child. What was she thinking!

"Put him down Valerie," Danny ordered. "He has nothing to do with this! Put him down and let him walk away."

"I don't think so," Valerie poked the gun into Alex's small back, making the boy cringe and stop thrashing now that he knew of the threat behind him. "Now I'm the one with the power here. I want you to surrender and put your hands behind your head."

"Valerie, put Alex down," Danny was getting nervous, he knew she had a quick trigger finger.

"Put your hands up Phantom!" Valerie screamed jamming the gun harder into Alex's back, making the boy cry out in alarm.

At Alex's cry, Danny froze as a gut clenching pain took him over. He raised his hands up slowly and put them behind his head.

"Good," Valerie seemed to smile behind her visor. "I knew even a wild spirit like you could be tamed."

She walked forward, Alex still in her grip. She pocketed her gun and grabbed a pair of glowing green cuffs.

"No!" Alex screamed at seeing them. "No let him go!"

"Shut up kid!"

Valerie threw Alex to the ground and started to cuff Danny behind his back.

"Alex!" Danny looked down at him, seeing blood sprouting from the boy's nose since Valerie had thrown him on his face. "You monster! You couldn't have just let him go?"

"What's one kid compared to stopping you?" Valerie asked, finished cuffing him.

She came back around to face him and punched him in the jaw, making him fall on his butt and taste blood in his mouth.

"And now that I have you," Valerie got her gun back out and pointed it as Alex again. "He's useless."

"No!"

Danny got up and rammed Valerie down with his body as she fired, the shot going wide but it still grazed Alex's arm. The boy screamed in pain and started to cry as his burned flesh started to sting with the cool night air hitting against it.

Something broke in Danny when he heard Alex scream like that. Some primal instinct to protect even more fierce then the one he already possessed. He gave a very un-human growl and broke the cuffs that kept his arms behind his back. He shoved Valerie into the pavement as she started to aim her gun again. He took it out of her grip and threw it too far away for anyone to run and grab. Most of the it was a blur to his memory, but he remembered that Alex crying was what broke his concentration. He still had Valerie in his grip, pieces of her suit missing and her helmet broken in multiple fragments on her face. She was scratched, bruised and had a large gash on her forehead that probably accounted for her unconsciousness right now.

He looked over to his right to see that Alex was shivering in the rain, his arm clutched tightly to his chest as he rocked back and forth, on the brink of passing out. Danny roughly threw Valerie to the ground, knowing she would survive, and went to Alex. He gathered the delirious boy in his arms and rocketed home where he could treat the injuries.

* * *

Alex came awake to thunder over the house. He was in an unfamiliar bed with his burned arm bandaged up tightly. It started to tingle slightly when he moved it so he kept it still as he looked around the room. He was up high, the large windows showed the tops of trees as they swayed in the wind with the rain pelting the panes and leaves outside. There was a fire place that was going brightly in front of him, keeping the whole place warm, but the flames were green, not the average red and yellow.

"Hey, you feeling better bud?"

Alex turned to the doorway to see that Danny was there, shutting the door behind him in his human form.

"Uh huh," Alex nodded his head and noticed that Danny had two mugs in his hands.

"Here, hot chocolate always takes the sting off," he offered the boy a mug and started to sip is own.

Alex was careful not to burn his tongue on the hot chocolate, but then a thought came to him that almost burned his tongue.

"What happened to Red Huntress?" he asked Danny.

"She'll live," he frowned at the boy, but sighed. "I'm just glad you're alright. She went way to far today by taking you hostage to use against me. I think she finally snapped."

"Are you okay? She hit you pretty hard."

Danny rubbed his chin in remembrance, but there wasn't a bruise there to show where Valerie had hit him.

"I'm okay Alex, but we'll have to come up with a good story to convince your mom you didn't get that burn in a ghost fight."

Alex looked at his bandaged arm before looking up at Danny.

"Tell her the truth," Alex said simply. "She won't be mad. Well, she might be mad for a little while, but not forever."

"Alex, I have to keep this a secret. How did you find out anyway?"

"Last Christmas, you came into the room to drop off Apples and I saw you," Alex smiled with a knowing look.

"You've known for that long?" Danny asked astonished. "And you didn't tell anyone?"

Alex shook his head, grin still in place, but then he frowned, "Conner is close though. He almost had it but gave up when you left."

Danny winced at this. Maybe leaving them wasn't the best idea. Then his phone started to ring and he answered it with a frown. Who would be calling at this time of the night?

"Hello?"

"Danny! Alex is missing, I can't find him!" Sam yelled from the other end of the line.

"Sam, relax, I got him right here okay?" Danny said, thinking on his feet. "I found him outside my house, and he scraped his arm up. It wrapped it up so don't worry, we're just having hot chocolate and talking."

"I'm coming over right now with Conner," Sam said and it sounded like she was having trouble with something, probably getting her rain coat on while she rushed her voice into the phone. "He was so worried when he rushed into my room to say Alex was gone, as if someone had stolen him right from under our noses."

"Don't worry, he's fine," Danny reassured her. "I'll leave the door unlocked, you can come right in when you get here."

With a rushed goodbye, Sam hung up quickly. Danny hung up as well and looked back at Alex.

"Sorry bud, but it looks like you're a runaway this time," he told the boy.

Alex only frowned and crossed his arms moodily. He watched Danny look around the room for something then come and sit down beside him on the bed again.

"You know something?"Danny asked him, laying down next to Alex.

"What?" Alex asked.

"I don't see your blanket anywhere," Danny looked left and right just to be sure. "I'm proud of you Alex. You must have left it up on the roof, but how did Huntress get you anyway?"

"I jumped on her."

Danny gapped at him, "You? You jumped from the ops center and onto Huntress?"

Alex seemed to blush under the words. He wasn't sure if he was in trouble or not.

"Is that bad?"

"What? No," Danny chuckled, bringing the child closer to himself, "no bud. What you did was very brave. Stupid maybe, but brave. I don't think we should say this to your mom though."

"Yeah, that wouldn't be a good idea," Alex agreed as he snuggled next to Danny more and yawned.

"I'm proud of you Alex, why don't you get some shut eye? It's been a big night," Danny said, smiling down softly at the boy as he started to drift off.

"Okay," Alex said sleepily, probably halfway to dream land by now, hot chocolate will do that to you. "I love you Daddy."

Danny blinked and looked at the now sleeping boy. Did he really just say that? He must have been out of it. Or at least, that was what Danny tried to convince himself. Pretty soon, Sam would be here, she would take Alex back to the house and their lives would resume to normal. He hated that thought with all of his heart, but only a miracle would stop it.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Yes! I finally updated! Enjoy and I would love feed back :D**_

* * *

Sam had gotten to the house in ten minutes flat. Danny hated to think that a cop had followed her here just to give her a ticket but she was alone with Conner by her side as they rushed up to the door. It was weird seeing her again. Under other circumstances, it would have been uncomfortable for him, but Alex was the only thing on Sam's mind at the moment. She rushed past him, pushing him aside and entering the house calling Alex's name, Conner right on her heals.

Danny sighed as it seemed she didn't notice him and he hoped that it would be like this when they left. He really didn't want to have to explain himself to her like this, and this late at night. He yawned widely as he realized he hadn't slept at all and was probably going to sleep through his alarm again when he finally did get some shut eye.

Suddenly, his inner alarms were going off like a wild monkey was ringing a whole company of bells just for the fun of it. His eyes snapped up to the front lawn where another car had pulled up and screeched with the tires leaving marks on the pavement as it stopped. Men got out a second later and with them, the large blond man that should have been far gone from here after his drunken escapade a few weeks earlier.

Danny's first reaction was to go up to him and show Dash who was boss, but with the other men around, he knew he couldn't fight them like he was now. He turned to go inside instead and warn Sam of the danger. There was shouting out front as he was spotted in the doorway.

"Sam run! Use the back door! Dash—"

Sam had just been coming down the stairs with Alex in her arms and Conner right in front of her as Danny turned to warn them. A loud banging sound shattered the quiet night outside and made Danny freeze. Conner was gaping with wide eyes and Sam looked like she wanted to scream but it was frozen in her throat.

The intense pain and heat in his chest made Danny look down and saw the blood seeping through his shirt. Aw crap, Dash had shot him. He knew he would recover, bullets didn't kill him as he had been shot before (but that was a story for a different time) but he would be out of commission for a few minutes.

"Don't worry," he told Sam before his world went black and he collapsed.

Sam stood there in shock, her grip on Alex turning painful as she watched the still form of Danny Fenton lay useless by his front door.

'Don't worry?' Why wasn't she supposed to worry? He had been shot and was lying dead right there at her feet. She was so shocked and that she didn't realize Conner was tugging at her shirt to leave by means of the back door. The sight of Dash filling the doorway got her to move however and they all made a run for the exit.

"Hold it Sam," Dash yelled at her.

More of his men had covered the back door and shoved their way in, holding guns up to her and the boys to block their escape. Sam slowly turned back around to see Dash, her grip on Alex tight and her hold on Conner's hand even tighter as he squeezed back in his fear.

"What do you want Dash?" she asked him glaring, her fear gone and overprotective-mother mode now active.

"I want my kids!" Dash yelled as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You can't have them Dash. It was court ordered."

"You think a piece of paper and some words are going to stop me? Like you boyfriend over here?"

Dash kicked Danny's body with a painful sounding thud as he walked past it and stepped up to Sam. He grabbed Alex but the boy screamed and kicked him in the gut. Dash retreated with a growl.

"Don't you dare touch him again," Sam said, letting Alex down to hide behind her legs. "You leave right now before you regret it."

"And what are you going to do?" Dash laughed. "You don't have a gun, and you can't beat me in a physical combat. You're just a woman with a couple of brats."

As Dash ranted on, Sam saw a shadow start to pull itself from the ground behind him. Her eyes widened as she saw Danny get up and brush away the blood on his shirt, not looking dead at all. There was a wild raging fire in his eyes though as he seemed to shift from meek man to powerful lion.

"Get out," he growled behind Dash, causing the other man to jump.

"You," Dash backed up in fear and his men seemed to be doing the same thing. "I killed you, you should be dead!"

"Can't kill something that's already dead," Danny growled.

Sam stood in shock and horror as the color seemed to bleach out of his hair and skin, his eyes radiating a deadly green toxic glow. In a few seconds, Phantom was standing there, looking more deadly than he ever had before. The effect was not lost on Dash as he had turned to flee but Danny caught his shirt before anything could happen.

"You dare harm them?" Danny asked with a deadly echo to his voice. "You cannot have them. You never deserved them."

Danny threw Dash back outside through the front door where Dash landed painfully in the street. Danny followed, his walk that of a predator stalking its prey.

"He's a ghost?" Conner asked with a disbelieving tone to his voice. "He's been Phantom this whole time?"

"I tried to tell you," Alex said with a know-it-all tone to his own voice as he came out of hiding from behind Sam. "He's a good guy, he wouldn't hurt us. That's why he left, he didn't want to hurt us," his eyes trailed up to his mother's face. "You aren't mad at him are you?"

Sam looked down at Alex, tearing her eyes away from the beating that Dash was receiving right now, his pain filled yelps and screams just background noise.

"No, I don't hate him," Sam said, but she was still confused and she felt betrayed.

Why did he want to keep this a secret from them? Why couldn't he trust her?

It took her a moment to realize that Danny was right in front of them, his human form back as he gently led her back into his house.

Danny was worried about Sam. Her complete lack of response to his touch was bothersome and he led her back into the house, knowing full well that none of Dash's guys were within ten miles of his place. He had beaten up Dash pretty good, almost killing him in his mad haze. He had stopped before it was too late though and dropped Dash off at the nearest hospital, telling the staff to call the police before he left to take care of the others.

"Is Dad gone?" Conner asked when Danny had put Sam on the couch and went to reheat the water he had used for the hot chocolate earlier.

"You don't have to worry about him anymore Conner," Danny told the boy reassuringly.

He fiddled with the stove knob, but he had no response. He banged the top in frustration, after beating up a drug lord, the stove working was the least the universe could offer him.

"Darn gas stoves," Danny muttered, picking up the tea pot and lighting the bottom with ecto-energy to get what he wanted.

When the steam was coming out in a steady cloud, he set it back down on the stove top and got the mugs out. He noticed Conner and Alex were staring at him, as if they couldn't believe he was back.

"Mom's sleeping on the couch," Alex said, as if that explained everything.

"Have a seat boys, the drinks will be ready in a moment," Danny said as he poured the water.

The three of them shared the table late into the night. Not many words were given, but the silent bask of each other's company seemed to fill the silence with a happy atmosphere. When Danny saw Alex nodding off, he figured it was time for bed. It was almost sunrise actually, and he had work to do. He gathered a sleepy Alex in his arms and told Conner to follow him. The boy was dragging his feet by the time they reached Danny's bed. He put the two boys in it and pulled the covers over them. He blotted the rising sun out by pushing the drapes shut and put the heater on to a more comfortable level for them.

"Night boys," he whispered as he left, shutting the door behind him.

He worked silently as Sam slept on his couch. The blood stain he left after he was shot needed to be cleaned, the kitchen was a mess after the hot chocolate and Dash's goons shoving their way into his house. He had to fix a busted back-door handle, order some new windows, and inform the airport where he flew a private jet that he was calling up his sick days. After that, he called his parents and let them know what was going on. His mother was worried sick after she found out Sam and the boys were not in the house that morning.

"They're all here," Danny said over the phone after his mother calmed down. "I took care of Dash and his buddies and the kids are just fine."

"Oh, thank God you are all okay," Maddie sighed in relief. "So, they know now huh?"

"Yeah, but they won't tell, I'm sure of it."

"Danny, you should really talk with Sam."

"And I will, once she feels up to it."

A clearing of the throat made Danny turn around to see Sam standing in the doorway, looking tired and a little sheepish.

"I think she's ready," Danny said into the phone. "I'll call you back."

He hung up the phone and looked at Sam, trying to read her expression but was at a loss.

"So," she began, walking up to him. "I guess this explains all of the absences and the wounds."

"Uh, yeah," Danny nodded, looking away.

"And why you know almost every ghost in town and why they listen to what you say," Sam continued. "And how Alex woke up with that cat in his bed last Christmas."

Danny chuckled at that, but he quickly sobered up.

"Are you mad?" he asked.

"Mad? A little," Sam finally said after a pause. "I'm mad that you didn't tell me in the first place. I'm mad that you left us because of this. I'm not mad because you are what you are, just that you didn't tell me."

"I'm sorry Sam, but, I've been burned before. I didn't want it to happen again."

"So, your parents know, Jazz knows, and I'm betting that Tucker knows too."

"Yes, all of the people closest to me know," Danny looked down at the ground again at that. "I really wanted to tell you, but I just wasn't sure. I mean, Tucker his my friend, Jazz his my sister, and my parents are—well my parents."

"So what am I?"

"Something else, something more special to me then I can put in words, and that scares me. If I lose you to something I could have prevented, I could never forgive myself."

She looked at him, her face blank, then her fist was in his eyes and he stumbled back from the blow. He put a hand over the stinging piece of flesh she just pounded into his skull, but it would heal in a few hours.

"Then why the hell did you let me go?" she asked him angrily, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Because I wanted to protect you. If you had to protect your boys by leaving them, would you?" Danny answered, not mad at all that she hit him, he deserved it.

Sam stared at him for a long moment, then got up close and kissed him. A smile spread over her face at his surprised one when she pulled away.

"So that's how we ended up under the bed," she said, knowing lighting up her eyes. "Your powers freaked out on you didn't they?"

Danny said nothing as he looked away and blushed deeply in his embarrassment.

"It doesn't happen often," he mumbled.

"No?"

Sam kissed him again, only more like when she had that night. It was deep, passionate, and long. Danny had started to kiss back when Sam pulled away. She didn't want to, but she was begging to have to lean down to stay with him. When she pulled away, she laughed at his predicament.

"Oh darn it," Danny grumbled as he pulled his intangible legs out from the floor. "That hasn't happened since high school."

Sam crouched near him where he sat on the floor, making sure his shoes were still on and not under the floor boards.

"I think it's cute," she smiled at him.

"So . . . you forgive me?" he asked with a sheepish smile.

"Oh, you have a lot of cleanup work to do Fenton," Sam warned him with a stern look. "And you can start by taking me to dinner and telling some of your stories. I'll need them for my book after all."

Danny smiled at that and got to his feet, helping Sam to stand as well.

"I'll have to teach you and the boys some fighting techniques," he said. "Now that you know, you might as well learn how to hold a blaster."

"Danny, I take my rage out on the shooting range," Sam told him with a serious look. "Just give me a gun and I can shoot it easy."

Danny looked at her in shock, then smiled.

"That is so hot," he chuckled, holding her close.

THE END!

* * *

_**Do not fear readers! There will be a short epilog-or however you spell it- and there is a sequal in the makeing! Be sure to stick around for more updates in the future. Promise! **_


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